I am a senior and I was travelling with 2 other friends and they got their email for check in and I didn’t then when we went to checkin my boarding pass had me as standby so you can imagine that I was in a panic wondering if I was coming home to Ottawa airport with them or not. I finally was able to get help at the counter and she was very helpful, but this worrying takes all the fun out of a great vacation. I certainly will not be flying anywhere again. I know this isn’t only Air Canada’s problem but thanks for letting me rant.😁
Flights canceled due to staff shortages
Delayed 5 hours with little communication and no accommodations.
The US Customs/immigration step at Montreal creates a mess. Your checked bag must be xrayed and cleared to enter "U.S soil" (which is still in Canada) which makes for huge delays, confusion and mishandling of bags. My carry-on, which I checked at the gate at Air Canada's request, never got cleared. So I arrived in Atlanta where my bag was not at baggage claim. Nor was there an agent to make a claim to, and it was not even 5 p.m. I had to go all the way up to the Air Canada check in desk in the International Terminal to try to find an employee to whom I could report the missing bag. An agent for AC had to be called to respond, there was no one at their check in desk. The person who finally did talk to me made ME send a photo of my baggage ticket and boarding pass to his supposed phone number, which he said he would use to start a claim. This never happened, I got no confirmation that a trace had been started and I had to call AC the next day.
Trip from hell, sorry to say. Halifax - Toronto left late (the new normal…). Toronto - Austin cancelled. Re-booked through Chicago. Flight left more than an hour late. Chicago - Austin left two hours late. Arrived in Austin around 1 am. Ended up traveling - Airport to airport - 15 hours. Food in Chicago left me with upset stomach, so I ended up spending more time in the privy than in my seat. Attendants though supportive. A woman sitting next to me said that her flight from Toronto to Austin was also cancelled last time she flew that route. Makes you think twice about going somewhere. I am 71 so I know how much things have changed. Not entirely the airlines’ fault, but to some degree yes. Maybe sell less tickets, but deliver on the tickets you sell. I failed to avoid going through Toronto this time. I usually go through Montreal. Toronto has a really bad reputation, in many areas, and I was reminded of this the hard way.
Cons: "Air Canada needs to update it's entertainment systems. On flights to and from my destination both the audio jack and screen were broken. Also, the flight did not receive any salads, leaving this vegan with slim pickings. Get it together, Air Canada!"
Pros: "Staff are very nice"
Cons: "Delay in flight of more than 45 minutes"
Pros: "Boarding was good and fast"
Cons: "The audio jack was not good thus I had to keep it steady with my hand to be able to listen to movie"
Cons: "if the flight is on time. I was delay more than 10 hours"
Cons: "The delay was ridiculous. Seats are the usual tiny ones so for a big guy they suck but over all great trip"
Pros: "Got the seats I wanted, movies were good. Staff was friendly"
Cons: "In Montreal they took my carry on bag stating it was too big, I have traveled with it many many times and it always fits except the tiny planes, this was a 787. When I got on the plane many people had larger bags then mine and it was the last bag on the carousel at the other end."
Pros: "Nothing much"
Cons: "Please train this guys for customer service and fix there attitude."
Pros: "Entertainment system was good and seats were comfortable"
Cons: "Boarding was confusing because there were few or no announcements of which zone was boarding, and it wasn't clear exactly which desk to proceed to for boarding"
Cons: "Dirty plane, garbage stuffed in seat pocket. Tray table disgusting!"
Pros: "Smooth as you like"
Pros: "The tvs were nice."
Cons: "The people in front of us reclined their seats and there was no leg room. The flight was severely delayed by an hour and a half making us miss our connection."
Pros: "Great service"
Cons: "Not enough time to the flight from Halifax to west plam beach"
Pros: "Exiting the plane and terminating my transaction."
Cons: "Delayed. Missed layover. Lost luggage. Poor communication. Agents had attitudes."
Pros: "Seat was comfortable, leg room adequate. Crew helpful."
Cons: "The young child that screamed for the first two hours of the flight. The man in the seat behind me that coughed loudly constantly for 5.5 hours. No sleep on an overnight flight. Gluten free options not available for me and my wife. We tried to book these before the flight but we're not allowed access for this. Flight entertainment system froze and had to be reset, resulting in blank screens for the first 30 minutes or so."
Pros: "Air Canada couldn’t have been better, I missed a flight they waived their fees and got me on the next direct flight home. Wonderful service !!"
Pros: "Boarding process."
Cons: "NA"
Cons: "When there is a delay, even when weather related, show some empathy and feed stranded passengers!"
Pros: "Airline provided a flight to Toronto, with reasonable amenities and boarding process."
Cons: "Had to load my own suitcase on the luggage belt - I am elderly, with back issues, traveling alone. Attendant was courteous and helped me, but stated that staff "doesn't do it any more" because of safety issues. No help will be given in the future. Plane left two hours late - I missed my connection. Was given a stipend for an overnight stay, but no explanation was given about the delay. Staff couldn't tell me if my checked baggage was on the plane the next morning. I probably won't fly Air Canada again."
Cons: "Almost 2 hour delay in Halifax until 1:30 am but Air Canada lounge closed at 11 anyway."
Pros: "Good breakfast."
Cons: "Cabin was cool"
Cons: "It was 3am and my boarding pass wasn't bright enough on my phone. Instead of politely asking me to go print out my boarding pass at the check in stations, she yelled at me and told me I was holding up the line"
Cons: "Flight was delayed 1.5 hours but no one was in much of a rush to get it going"
Pros: "The smooth take off & landing"
Cons: "Too hot and cramped"
Cons: "Kayak did not allow us to reserve seats, and the seats we received were not together, even though we purchased the seats six months in advance. My seat was at the front facing rear wards, with a non-tilting seat and little foot room."
Cons: "Air Canada shares a trait with many other incompetent organizers: everything is fine if nothing goes wrong, but there are no contingency plans in place in case something goes wrong. So, things get more and more delayed. Can't you predict roughly when the plane is going to land (once it is in the air!) and arrange for some gate to be open, so that we don't have to sit on the ground for 45 minutes once it has landed, for example? People who know how to organize are ordinarily capable of doing that. Furthermore, the lack of transparency is really frustrating: we just sit on the tarmac with no indication of how long we're going to be there, and the estimates of the delays are completely wrong when we're given them."
Cons: "Lousy food and no snacks"
Cons: "Our flight originating in Halifax was 1.5 hours delayed and we knew there was no way we would make our connecting flight in Toronto with a 40 min window to pass through customs, US immigration, and reenter security into the US bound F gates. We requested to be rebooked for early the following day to avoid being stranded in Toronto. Acknowledging it was unlikely we could make the connection, the staff told us that because the computer didn't list it as a "missed connection", they could not take any steps to rebook us. Of course, we missed the connection and were stranded for an entire 24 hours in Toronto with two small children."
Pros: "we made it"
Cons: "small planes are noisy and cramped"
Pros: "A very typical flight."
Cons: "No complaints."
Cons: "The security check took so long. We made it last minute even thought we were in the airport more than 1.5 hours before the flight (as recommended)!!"
Pros: "flight was fine pleasant flight attendants was late flight so slept a lot now much to add"
Pros: "The t flight was completely uneventful-the best kind."
Cons: "Our flight from Halifax to Los Angeles via Toronto should have left at 3:15 on Sunday so that we could arrive back in Los Angeles by 10:14 pm. Instead the flight was delayed and left 200 people stranded and waiting in line for customer service. Because I did not have cell service in Canada, I was forced to wait 2 hours in line only to have the agent at the counter make me talk to an agent on the phone. Prior to that, we were shocked that one of the only two agents at the counter left the counter to talk to people in line behind us instead of servicing the customers first come first serve. When I asked him to please return to the counter to help the next person in line, he mumbled that that was not what he wished to do. Meanwhile, all flights out of Toronto were fully booked that night. The delayed flight finally left at 1:30 am. Had Air Canada notified its customers about the 10 hour delay, we could have spent that time in Halifax. Both my husband and I were very disappointed in how AC handled the whole situation. Both the counter agents and the phone agent were unhelpful in offering us options."
Pros: "when I landed"
Cons: "First off the the plane was mid takeoff and stopped which terrified the passengers and crew. Then we learned the plane had technical issues which lead to a 50 minute delay, then air canada did nothing as in terms of compensation. My audio jack for the entertainment system was broken, seat 19F on flight 617 by the way... Then I got up to use the washroom and when I came out I had to wait 30 minutes at the back of the plane standing until the servers were done serving drinks and snacks/food. Then the landing was terrifying as the plane was swooping/shaking much more than normal, even the board crew looked a bit worried. Could NOT wait to be done of the flight, one of my worst ever."
Pros: "Very satisfied with the flight."
Pros: "Worst service I've ever had"
Cons: "The flight for Montreal was half empty and than there was a flight to Toronto Hallf empty as well, and the flight Toronto to Montreal was half empty...by coincidence our flight Halifax-Montreal on Sunday at 19:15 was cancelled due to technical issues. However it was obvious that AirCanada didn't care about the passenger time or valued it...instead of flying 3 empty flights they cancelled our flight and maximize capacity on the other planes...not happy we didn't get any voucher and we wasted 4 hours of our time and didn't have dinner until 1 am"
Pros: "Staff and plane were fabulous"
Pros: "Good service...plane clean....attendants very attentive to all passengers!"