The farce of modern air travel
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The farce of modern air travel
Good Morning All:
This article is taken from today's Ottawa Citizen.
To me it almost sounds like whinging but who am I to judge...
Mohammed Adam More from Mohammed Adam
Published on: April 4, 2015
Last Updated: April 4, 2015 10:27 AM EDT
Air travel can sometimes be an unpleasant experience, what with damaged or lost baggage, delays and flight cancellations, some of which I experienced recently. But the worst part is the realization that airlines are increasingly behaving like insurance companies: They are happy to collect your money, but when you need help from them, it becomes a tug-of-war.
Long gone are the days when even flying economy, you could pick a good seat in the front cabin if you booked early enough. Today you have to pay extra to get “comfort seats” located in the first five rows of the economy cabin. Having been punted to the back of the plane on a recent flight to Ghana because I hadn’t paid the extra fee for the seat my agent had booked and confirmed, I was determined to rectify the problem on the return leg.
For $34, I was assigned seat 23A, only to arrive at check-in on the departure day to find I had been bumped to 28K, about four rows back. I wanted an explanation but no one at KLM would tell me why I paid for 23A, but ended up in 28K. The reassigned seat wasn’t bad, and there may have been a good reason for the change, but my frustration was that airline officials didn’t see any need for an explanation. The worst was yet to come.
In Toronto, my 6:30 p.m. connecting flight to Ottawa was cancelled, and rescheduled to 11:15 that night. Having spent about 21 hours in the air and on the ground across three continents, I was tired and in no mood to spend another five hours at Pearson. Everything started to fall apart when I asked for an earlier flight home. WestJet passed on the responsibility to KLM, which was my primary carrier. KLM promptly passed the buck back to WestJet because they had cancelled my connecting flight. You can imagine my frustration at the back-and-forth, which only got worse when a WestJet agent brusquely told me to count myself lucky to be getting home at all. I was taking notes during the discussion.
“A lot of people are not getting to their destinations,” the young woman said. “You are lucky we are getting you there, even if five hours late.”
I was floored by this attitude, and asked to speak to a manager. They asked me to call the customer relations department in Calgary, and having explained my situation to an official, I told her I was prepared to pay for an earlier flight to Ottawa, but wanted assurances that I would be reimbursed. The official said the airline couldn’t do that because as far as they were concerned, my Toronto-Ottawa leg “has no value because it is a connection. It is the same as a one-way ticket.”
I don’t know how the airline industry works, but the idea that my connecting flight, a service WestJet was providing for a fee, had no value, was absurd. I told the customer relations agent so. Eventually, she offered me a $59 credit on my next WestJet flight, and then bumped it to $79. A more senior official came on and said that while she was “not making any promises,” the credit could be raised to $100. The connecting flight had a value after all, but they just wanted me to sweat for it. Getting them to acknowledge some responsibility and offer some help was like pulling teeth, and I finally gave up, choosing to wait until my 11:15 flight.
In the event, the flight left Toronto about 1 a.m., because we had to wait for the crew to arrive from Cancun. I did get home – seven hours late, and found my suitcase torn, and a handle broken. With WestJet ticket agent’s words still ringing in my ears, I suppose I should count my blessings. I got home.
P.S.: Kudos to Canada Border Services for the automated screening process at Pearson. It is fast and convenient, and should be extended to all international airports.
This article is taken from today's Ottawa Citizen.
To me it almost sounds like whinging but who am I to judge...
Mohammed Adam More from Mohammed AdamPublished on: April 4, 2015
Last Updated: April 4, 2015 10:27 AM EDT
Air travel can sometimes be an unpleasant experience, what with damaged or lost baggage, delays and flight cancellations, some of which I experienced recently. But the worst part is the realization that airlines are increasingly behaving like insurance companies: They are happy to collect your money, but when you need help from them, it becomes a tug-of-war.
Long gone are the days when even flying economy, you could pick a good seat in the front cabin if you booked early enough. Today you have to pay extra to get “comfort seats” located in the first five rows of the economy cabin. Having been punted to the back of the plane on a recent flight to Ghana because I hadn’t paid the extra fee for the seat my agent had booked and confirmed, I was determined to rectify the problem on the return leg.
For $34, I was assigned seat 23A, only to arrive at check-in on the departure day to find I had been bumped to 28K, about four rows back. I wanted an explanation but no one at KLM would tell me why I paid for 23A, but ended up in 28K. The reassigned seat wasn’t bad, and there may have been a good reason for the change, but my frustration was that airline officials didn’t see any need for an explanation. The worst was yet to come.
In Toronto, my 6:30 p.m. connecting flight to Ottawa was cancelled, and rescheduled to 11:15 that night. Having spent about 21 hours in the air and on the ground across three continents, I was tired and in no mood to spend another five hours at Pearson. Everything started to fall apart when I asked for an earlier flight home. WestJet passed on the responsibility to KLM, which was my primary carrier. KLM promptly passed the buck back to WestJet because they had cancelled my connecting flight. You can imagine my frustration at the back-and-forth, which only got worse when a WestJet agent brusquely told me to count myself lucky to be getting home at all. I was taking notes during the discussion.
“A lot of people are not getting to their destinations,” the young woman said. “You are lucky we are getting you there, even if five hours late.”
I was floored by this attitude, and asked to speak to a manager. They asked me to call the customer relations department in Calgary, and having explained my situation to an official, I told her I was prepared to pay for an earlier flight to Ottawa, but wanted assurances that I would be reimbursed. The official said the airline couldn’t do that because as far as they were concerned, my Toronto-Ottawa leg “has no value because it is a connection. It is the same as a one-way ticket.”
I don’t know how the airline industry works, but the idea that my connecting flight, a service WestJet was providing for a fee, had no value, was absurd. I told the customer relations agent so. Eventually, she offered me a $59 credit on my next WestJet flight, and then bumped it to $79. A more senior official came on and said that while she was “not making any promises,” the credit could be raised to $100. The connecting flight had a value after all, but they just wanted me to sweat for it. Getting them to acknowledge some responsibility and offer some help was like pulling teeth, and I finally gave up, choosing to wait until my 11:15 flight.
In the event, the flight left Toronto about 1 a.m., because we had to wait for the crew to arrive from Cancun. I did get home – seven hours late, and found my suitcase torn, and a handle broken. With WestJet ticket agent’s words still ringing in my ears, I suppose I should count my blessings. I got home.
P.S.: Kudos to Canada Border Services for the automated screening process at Pearson. It is fast and convenient, and should be extended to all international airports.
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Best thing to do is to stick with all one carrier, if you can't do that then stick with two carriers from the same alliance. Two airlines from two different alliances is a recipe for disaster. And as west jet is a low cost carrier they have no alliances.
So as they are a low cost carrier they did right by getting you to your destination. They don't care whether your happy about it or not.
I'm assuming you went with that convoluted routing to save money? (I say that because BA could have done it with one stop through Heathrow , and probably more one stop options as well) you can't have it both ways. Take the cheaper riskier option and hope things don't go wrong or take the more expensive safer, convenient option
So as they are a low cost carrier they did right by getting you to your destination. They don't care whether your happy about it or not.
I'm assuming you went with that convoluted routing to save money? (I say that because BA could have done it with one stop through Heathrow , and probably more one stop options as well) you can't have it both ways. Take the cheaper riskier option and hope things don't go wrong or take the more expensive safer, convenient option
aahhhh Westjet...let me tell you a tail.
We landed YVR Sunday 22nd Mar off a CI flight from Taipei. Cleared customs at 8:00 PM and checked into a local hotel to clear the J-L and would continue to destination in the AM. AM comes and we show back at the Airport at 10:00 AM for noon flight...and the fun begins...
Show up at WJ counter (partner of CI)...met by SYT1 offering to handle our booking...punches in the info...and then says....WHOA!...I can't do nuthin' with this...continue on to manual check-in. 20 minutes takes us to another SYT2 (fancy that...) asks us for ticketing...punches in the info and says....WHOA!...your ride has already left...
ME...cannot be...noon's not here yet...
SHE...we changed your Itinerary...we sent you an email...didn't you get???
ME...nope...
SHE...(sigh)...see those seats over there...GO SIT...
WE...sitting....and checking email...yep got it all right...datestamped just about when we were opposite Vladivostok...
SYT2..comes over...says you've been passed off to our trouble shooter...pointing to SYT3... SIT...and disappears.
ME... $hit (rolling eyes) and telling wifey... "this is gonna get nasty"
20 minutes pass...SYT3 comes over...
SYT3...bad bad news...we can't get you home till tomorrow. WJ is picking the tab for your o'nite, your flight is 9:00 AM tommorrow were sticking you you in the Fairmont (****)Airport hotel...and here's 6 meal vouchers ($90.00)...we're sorry for messing up your return. Your booked 1a 1b in our Plus seats...enjoy!
ME...duh!!!
and the story continues...yes we caught the flight...get backed from the gate... Captain comes on PA...says we got lights...no action...we're going back to the gate...get de-planed...and got stuck with SYT4 and SYT5 and 100 other pax...
Supposedly will take 2 hours...here's vouchers ($15.00 x 102 = eek!) be back at noon...
Noon...flight cancelled...got you on new flight arriving at 11:00 PM...dinners on us (2 more vouchers) and so we sat looking at SYT4 and SYT5 and the clock...
...about 3:00 PM.... SYT5 (almost on 1st name basis now..hehe)turns to us and says she can do better...changed flights get us in at 7:00PM and they're WJ PLUS...so you get to drink beer for 2 hours on WJ...so enjoy!
So...what's not to like...sorry for that Mohammad guy in the top post
...but that's life...thanx WJ...had a marvelous home-coming!!!
We landed YVR Sunday 22nd Mar off a CI flight from Taipei. Cleared customs at 8:00 PM and checked into a local hotel to clear the J-L and would continue to destination in the AM. AM comes and we show back at the Airport at 10:00 AM for noon flight...and the fun begins...
Show up at WJ counter (partner of CI)...met by SYT1 offering to handle our booking...punches in the info...and then says....WHOA!...I can't do nuthin' with this...continue on to manual check-in. 20 minutes takes us to another SYT2 (fancy that...) asks us for ticketing...punches in the info and says....WHOA!...your ride has already left...
ME...cannot be...noon's not here yet...
SHE...we changed your Itinerary...we sent you an email...didn't you get???
ME...nope...
SHE...(sigh)...see those seats over there...GO SIT...
WE...sitting....and checking email...yep got it all right...datestamped just about when we were opposite Vladivostok...
SYT2..comes over...says you've been passed off to our trouble shooter...pointing to SYT3... SIT...and disappears.
ME... $hit (rolling eyes) and telling wifey... "this is gonna get nasty"
20 minutes pass...SYT3 comes over...
SYT3...bad bad news...we can't get you home till tomorrow. WJ is picking the tab for your o'nite, your flight is 9:00 AM tommorrow were sticking you you in the Fairmont (****)Airport hotel...and here's 6 meal vouchers ($90.00)...we're sorry for messing up your return. Your booked 1a 1b in our Plus seats...enjoy!
ME...duh!!!
and the story continues...yes we caught the flight...get backed from the gate... Captain comes on PA...says we got lights...no action...we're going back to the gate...get de-planed...and got stuck with SYT4 and SYT5 and 100 other pax...
Supposedly will take 2 hours...here's vouchers ($15.00 x 102 = eek!) be back at noon...
Noon...flight cancelled...got you on new flight arriving at 11:00 PM...dinners on us (2 more vouchers) and so we sat looking at SYT4 and SYT5 and the clock...
...about 3:00 PM.... SYT5 (almost on 1st name basis now..hehe)turns to us and says she can do better...changed flights get us in at 7:00PM and they're WJ PLUS...so you get to drink beer for 2 hours on WJ...so enjoy!
So...what's not to like...sorry for that Mohammad guy in the top post
...but that's life...thanx WJ...had a marvelous home-coming!!!
Last edited by BlankBox; 4th Apr 2015 at 23:49.
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Delayed on KLM in Amsterdam two weeks ago, but then everyone was, the power was out over a swath of Holland. Adequately treated by KLM, they did their best, and for my experience always do. I find Westjet to be excellent all the time. For the times that the schedule has gone bump, they have been more than accommodating to make it up. No complaints from me! Air Canada... Not my first choice....
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P.S.: Kudos to Canada Border Services for the automated screening process at Pearson. It is fast and convenient, and should be extended to all international airports.
scanners have failed to work with my (new and undamaged) passport.The irony is, I can now get through the manual line faster with my alternative flag-of-convenience.
