Air Canada

Flew from Toronto to San Jose CR via Houston. Trying to leave YYZ Air Canada could not provide more than one person at the gate and then did not have a flight crew available. The delays were not notified in advance and we could not cancel hotel reservations. We missed connecting flight in Houston but were informed that United was holding flight for us. When we arrived at United counter they informed us that they told AC that flight was not held so we returned to AC counter only to find it closed. We then went looking for baggage and were told that the baggage was never included on flight out and then hung up on us. We have now spent five days waiting for baggage with no information provided to us or partner carriers very unusual. Typical response is apology with no further information or update nor return call of any sort. Complete incompetence exhibited by AC throughout this process and direct and outright lies in regards to continued correspondence with the firm. I will never fly with this airline again.

Service has deteriorated every year in the last 5 years. The staff at the airport representing Air Canada treat customers with disdain and do nothing to communicate delays etc. We are always left to guess about delays since no announcements are made. There is absolutely no courtesy shown towards regular customers. We are treated in a way that shows that our business is not valued at all. I only fly Air Canada because I have no choice where I live. I am happy WestJet will finally be providing service out of my local airport. At least then I will be able to experience some courtesy and satisfaction when I have to fly anywhere.

Decided a few years ago to commit to flying with Air Canada (live in Toronto) as I knew I would be traveling quite a bit to London for work and for consistency of booking and to take advantage of the loyalty program I wanted to stick with one airline. As a disclaimer for these flights I was not "overly" concerned about pricing but rather timing and comfort. That said I definitely wasn't willing to pay insane prices. In my opinion and for how I was traveling Air Canada has been by far the best airline I have traveled with (I have not flown airlines such as Emirates as they don't offer the routes I need but of course I have heard good things). There is no question that a direct AC flight to your destination might be more expensive than flying with another airline with one or 2 connections. If you are not too worried about spending more time traveling and in result save a few bucks - then go for it. That said where AC really shines is comfort and from my experiences service. The no. 1 reason I fly AC is comfort. In economy there is a good amount of leg room. If you disagree try flying United in row 30 and then report back. Secondly there is free in-flight entertainment in every seat. The flight from Heathrow to Toronto will fly by with a movie and some TV shows. Thirdly the first class cabin on the YYZ-LHR route was incredible. I am a light sleeper and also 6'2" and even with the decent economy seats in AC economy I still have trouble sleeping. As most of the YYZ to LHR flights are red-eyes and I need to be rested for meetings when I arrive - I often spent the extra money (or later on upgrade credits) to fly in business. I don't care if Emirates gives you a hot towel to exfoliate your face halfway through the flight what AC provided was a great lay-flat bed in a semi-private pod and I got a good 6 hours of sleep. It was invaluable. Where the true service came through was on the return. When getting a ride back to LHR there was crazy traffic on the M1. Airlines recommend arriving to LHR three hours before your flight. I arrived 45 mins before the flight. The AC staff were so helpful in getting me checked in and somehow got me on a golf cart and I was driven through the bowels of the airport escorted through security back on another golf cart that drove through random hallways passed luggage belts arriving right at the gate just before they closed the doors. Sure maybe some of that treatment was because I was booked in the first class cabin but I have had equally great experiences when booked in economy.

Travelled on flight AC034 Sydney to Vancouver on October 14 the staff were not very friendly or happy. Moving around or using the bathroom was very difficult as the seat belt signs were kept on for most of the flight even when the conditions weren't turbulent. Some of the staff were rude and unhelpful.

Travelled on flight AC033 Vancouver to Sydney on October 31. Again staff were rude and unhelpful. Inflight entertainment did not work in our row of seats for entire flight - 16 hours is a long time to listen to aircraft noise and read a book. Seat belt sign again used to excess and it did mean that tea and coffee were never served as no hot beverages when seat belt sign is on. Staff kept one toilet for their own use by claiming it was 'out of order'. One member of staff was extremely rude and loud actually shouting instructions at passengers. Would not fly internationally with Air Canada again.

We recently tried to book a flight from Halifax to Orlando with Air Canada. Unfortunately all suitable flights were showing Rouge as the operator. We had recently had a very bad experience with Rouge due to the minimal seat space and no padding in the seats. We refused to even consider a Rouge seat. We seriously considered driving to Orlando until CAA found us direct flights with WestJet. Much more attractive than Air Canada.

London Heathrow to Vancouver via Toronto. Was looking forward to trying the 787 Dreamliner. Well what a disappointment. Firstly Air Canada somehow managed to offload us from the flight in London and this was only realised when they scanned our boarding cards at the gate. In the meantime Air Canada had sold our assigned seats to someone else and after much stress we were eventually given seats right at the back of the plane. No apology from any of the crew on board for the stress caused by a problem entirely their own fault. Underwhelmed by the 787 looks like any other new aircraft on the inside the seating is narrow due to the tight 9 across seating and the plane seemed quite noisy. This accompanied by the typically forgettable Air Canada service meant I left that plane with nothing good to say about Air Canada. Connection at Toronto was tight due to our late running inbound flight. Our 777 to Vancouver had been swapped from a high density one to a standard one with less seats you can imagine the chaos at the gate as the flight was now oversold. Again more seating changes for us and we were now seated in economy middle aisle instead of Premium Economy. Overall a totally unpleasant experience made more stressful by Air Canada at every stage. I don't need this when I fly and will now take my business elsewhere.

On Dec 6th our scheduled flight from Vancouver to Nanaimo took off as planned. We had been informed that Nanaimo Airport has a critical density of fog but that they would try to get everybody across. The landing could not be done due to the fog so they flew us back to Vancouver. By that time it was close to midnight. All passengers were asked to go to a nearby service desk. Every single party received a voucher for the Fairmont Airport Hotel and everybody was re-booked for the first flight to Nanaimo the next morning. Very smooth! Very generous!

YYZ to YYC on a pristine 767 good cabin crew lead by an impressive bilingual flight director. Impressed by the improvements to the food offerings. YYC to YLW on a CRJ with an outgoing friendly flight attendant. Good flights good service.

LHR-YYZ YYZ-YOW YOW-YYC YYC-YYZ YYZ-LHR. Each flight was fantastic. The long haul flights were flown on the 777-300 with the standard Executive Pods they are a favourite of mine. The food was fantastic on all the flights Air Canada has recently started a "room service" style breakfast on flights to Europe. You get an order card and tick off everything you want at night before you go to bed and in the morning have it delivered at your chosen time. Great new idea. Staff onboard were fantastic as usual. Can't wait for my next trip!