Airlines soaring!

WITH fuel prices falling to levels that may have your Hummer dusted off and back joyriding the countryside filled with a full tank of premium, free airplane food a thing of the distant past and outrageous charges for checked bags... airlines are enjoying record profits.

Seats that are so close together that even my five foot four frame is getting squeezed, there's even a rumor that pretty soon, if the industry has its way, seats will become nothing but padded back boards or removed altogether and overhead rails with cushioned leather straps to hold onto will be added, it will be standing room only in the old Boeing's and Airbus' just like those newsreel trollies in the picture theaters.

Overheard at a secret meeting in Geneva, 'We can squeeze 350, maybe 400 into a 737/A320...' the airlines, who have suffered at the hands of the Arab oil sheiks and protected by paid off politicians, will finally be able to cash in!

Flying will once again be dominated by the rich and famous.

 

On another note, this blog is about my misadventures as DrN.Thusiast.  I wanted to comment that if for whatever reason I happen to run out of said misadventures, I need only contact Air Canada* by lifting the phone, err that won't work cuz the only thing I will hear for 45 to 75 minutes is a recorded message playing over and over (ad nausea) and over reminding me that this is the 'only 4 star airline four years running in North America', while waiting for a customer service(?) rep to take my call.

You see the last three times I have booked early in the past 12 months with our national airline, it mattered not that I followed the rules. Somehow AC has managed to screw things beyond recognition and I am told after being placed on hold while my five o'clock shadow grew into a reasonable facsimile of Grizzly Adams time after time, or waiting as much as a month for representatives to return an email, sad but true (don't even hold your breath for a return phone call) that its not their responsibility.

In fact during one recent such episode, I had the supervisory person send me a cut and pasted small print in the return email, clearly pointing out that they were NOT responsible for a flight our family was booked on, when it was changed.  And by changed I don't mean a change of say, 20 minutes in departure, I mean the flight via a major (read Montreal) CDN city was cancelled, gone, disappeared into the ozone (no wait we can't keep blaming cfc's anymore)  It did not matter nor did I feel she actually acknowledged that we had to change hotel bookings and car rental to say nothing of planned visits with friends or family... no... only thing I got was wee small print in explanation.

If you fly in Canada... oops sorry... via either WestJet or Air Canada, you will find a vast difference in the quality of service and attitude between the two carriers. West Jetters seem actually happy to be working for them,

while A/C employees seem, check as many as you like:

Overworked
Disgusted
Disinterested
Disappeared when trouble arises 
or just plain ignorant.
In some cases English may not even be their third language.

Now I am not one to complain, I have a liberal live and let live attitude if you know me at all, and generally I tend to the brighter side than the gloomy, but even my patience wears thin when excuses or lack of interest predominate my encounters with personnel working for the airline.  

Some people are not near as tolerant as I and this weekend again, while returning from Phoenix, I saw that in plain view as frustrated travelers that couldn't get a straight answer if paid for, vented their anger on whichever Air Canada employee was in shouting distance.  

Upon my arrival at Sky Harbor, I checked in at the A/C counter.  Uh oh... guess what, my 11.55 departure for Toronto has been delayed until 2.30!  This means I miss my connecting flight and thus, an overnight in T.O.  Much as I like visiting the "Center of the Universe" as many Torontonians think it is, I'd rather be home.  Give them credit one of those Phoenix A/C employees, got on the "helpline" (!!!) and tried to get someone to help me find a way to get home as planned.  After 25 minutes, my standing this side of the counter and he the other, no one had yet picked up at the other end.  I asked somewhat naively why they didn't have a dedicated line as staff only to be told there was no such thing.  Seems even Air Canada employees on the front lines didn't deserve any better access to information than us peon paying travelers. 

We know that humans like their wild counterparts have a basic fight or flight instinct and to see staff actually running or at least walking quickly in a direction whence their ears are pointed away from criticism and frustration and outright anger, who can blame them... after all, its not their responsibility.

Okay, why don't I just fly WJ you may be thinking.  The answer is that as a 2nd rate airline in the eyes of some, they simply don't have the range of destinations and flights that the hoodlums at A/C do.


Yup... if things are going great in your life and you're feeling like you are taking things for granted... just pick up the phone... sorry almost did it again, go online where you don't get to speak to a real person and book a flight with Air Canada.  Somehow, somewhere, you will be disappointed. 

*Disclaimer

Just so they don't sue me... I'm making this all up, it never really happened over and over again, uh uh.