Air Canada

On 7/1/2014 my connecting flight from Montreal to Brussels was delayed and then subsequently cancelled and rescheduled for the next day. We were made to wait board disembark and eventually to collect our baggage told to sleep in the airport with a thin blanket in freezing temperatures and to check in yet again the following day. As I was in transit this was even more taxing. Air Canada should have provided passengers with meal vouchers/food and hotel accommodation. Before boarding (after 4 hours of waiting) a few parents with young children asked for some water and sandwiches for their children. Their requests were flatly denied. I approached the purser to ask for water and something to eat when we had finally boarded after hours of waiting but I was impolitely brushed off and made to feel greedy even though I had been travelling for 12 hours at that point and was starving. After we were finally informed that the crew were no longer legal and that we had to disembark and spend the night in the airport we were informed that there were no available hotel rooms. I have never encountered such a blasé attitude towards passenger comfort. To add insult to injury there was no vegetarian meal (as I had requested months in advance).

Halifax - Gander - St. John's - Halifax. (A 5 day business trip) Despite snow storm in Halifax flight to Gander was only delayed a bit by the necessary de-icing Gander to St. John's no problems. St. John's to Halifax another snow storm. Check in was quick and was offered an earlier flight if I wanted. Given the snow this was appreciated and took the offered flight. All flights good and staff professional.

I've flown with Air Canada numerous times and have noticed a general improvement in staff service. That being said my flight from Vancouver to Seoul on New Year's Eve was a little uncomfortable. The sinks were blocked off with aluminium foil and there was no running water. Instead there was a box full of antiseptic towelettes which was thoughtful. However the mere thought of how many unwashed hands went in the box frightens me. Also my inflight entertainment system was not working even after it was rebooted. I could not watch anything during the rather long flight. I understand that technical difficulties happen but this was not the first time.

YYZ-YQR-YEG on 1 Jan. An unusual routing but the non-stop YYZ-YEG flights were hundreds more. Got on our E190 took off and they could not retract the slats so we landed after about a half hour flying around over TO. Plane declared unserviceable so they found another which would be ready in a couple of hours which would mean I missed my connection. 34 people headed to Edmonton and Calgary were thrown at Regina with no advance warning to speak of I was first in line at the desk in YQR and got out the next morning on the 0900 flight to YEG but many others were delayed until late that evening because what few flights there were out of Regina west were booked solid for the holiday.

YYZ-SRQ AC1880 Jan 15 2014. Positive: Flight attendants wore neat looking fedoras for boarding. Negative: Everything else. FAs had no idea passengers had to pay for checked luggage were surprised when overhead racks were full when only a third of the passengers boarded. The rest of us were delayed boarding for twenty minutes. I checked in flight movies before trip but couldn't watch anything on my android device and there were no iPads to rent. Food was cold worse than typical.

17-19 Jan 2014. I was shocked to step onto my flight going to Orlando from Toronto. No more TV ok I can deal with that but the seating was greatly reduced! There was no leg room and I'm not even tall. I feel sorry for anybody taller than 5'7!

I flew from YYZ-YFC on January 9 two days after the shutdown due to weather at YYZ. The check-in was very busy however there were staff on hand to help out. The plan pushed back on time however a teenager felt sick as we were taxiing to the runway and did not quite make it to the washroom on time. We needed to go back to the terminal to get the cabin cleaned. The delay was about 1.5 hours however I have to commend the flight crew on handling the situation with tact and compassion. I hope if I ever fall ill on a plane I get treated the same way. During the delay the flight crew gave out water and gave constant updates and communication. They performed very well considering the circumstances.

Flew from London Heathrow to Toronto via Montreal - our entertainment system did not work. When I asked a flight attendant for help they replied sharply "We are a travel company not an entertainment company". So I asked another flight attendant who was equally as rude. We were offered a flight with a time of only 50 minutes to connect to our next leg. This is undoable anyway we thought surely? But when our flight arrived 45 minutes late it caused all sorts of stressful complications. On return back to London from Toronto our flight was initially delayed by 4 hours but only pushing in half hour increments. So very frustrating. Short-staffed and totally unhelpful the staff were cleared stressed and it showed. We finally made it onto the plane on which we sat for 3 hours before being told to get off and come back 14 hours later as there was a problem with the plane (they had put water into a freezing cold plane which froze in the pipes expanded and burst). No hotels or food available. Shocking service. I understand that the weather was bad but all these problems could have been simply avoided.

In Dec-Jan 2014 I flew 4 legs on Air Canada Munich-Toronto-Miami and Miami-Montreal-Frankfurt each of them delayed with a total of 35 hours. All delays were controllable apparently being caused by shortage of staff in airport operations. Being stuck in Montreal airport for 24 hours I got a Holiday Inn voucher but the meal vouchers did not actually cover meals unlike with other airlines' passengers staying at the hotel. Had to stand three hours in a line of five people to get the hotel voucher at the Air Canada counter at the Pierre Trudeau. For a lunch voucher I got a small cup of Pepsi from a tap and water no food. The way the airline struggled with computer maintenance (delay of 4+ hrs from Montreal to Frankfurt) was frightening in terms of flight security. No compensations no apologies but major loss of time and money. Had to buy new tickets for the last leg home.

YEG-YYX (2) YYZ-LHR FRA-YYZ YYZ-YEG (3) YYC-YYZYOW-YYZ. (all Y class) These were my travels for 2013 with Air Canada. Overall I enjoyed the level of service they offered. Only few flights delay by 30 mins maximum. Air Canada food service buy on board or complementary on international needs a major revamp as the quality seems to be going lower. Flight attended were decent but did not amaze me in any sector however the ground staff were more friendlier.