RCAF COL Presses Air Canada for Fair Missed Flight Reimbursement

[The Bread Guy]

Well done, Colonel, for at least trying to stick it to "the man" - let's see what the Canadian Transportation Agency process yields ...

Anyone who's ever tried to get a fair shake from a big, faceless company should take a few minutes to read the maddening journey of Chris Johnson, a guy who tried to do the right thing at the airport gate.

Johnson, 57, is a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, a fellow with the studied equanimity you often find in someone whose very job description calls for honourable behaviour.

In late 2013, he was in London, preparing to board an Air Canada flight to Ottawa, where he lives. Then the aircraft broke down, and the airline's ground staff began scrambling to assign passengers to other flights. They called for volunteers who might be willing to wait a day.

"I was on vacation, not military duty," Johnson told me the other day, "and there were a lot of people who had to get home right away, and I figured I can hang tight."

He was told to head to the baggage area and collect his suitcase, and wait for an Air Canada representative who would have hotel and meal vouchers. But that person never showed up, he later stated in an affidavit to the Canadian Transport Agency.

Back at the departure area, the Air Canada staff had disappeared. Johnson then got on the phone to Air Canada's customer service centre in Montreal. Go find a hotel, he says he was told, and submit a claim later.

Johnson then took a bus (not a taxi, because "I was treating their money as though it was mine") to the airport Holiday Inn, hardly luxury lodging.

He ate supper at the hotel, and breakfast. The bill for the room, including taxes, was 257 pounds, which, if you know anything about London, is utterly average. He ate a modest Holiday Inn meal, and the grand total charged to his card came to $531.56 Cdn.

When he submitted the claim, though, Air Canada regretfully informed him that "our hotel accommodation policy allows up to $100 reimbursement towards your claim. For meals we allow $7 for breakfast, $10 lunch and $15 for dinner."

But Johnson likes to treat his own money like his own, too. So he argued. He also found email addresses on the Air Canada site (it provides precious few staff phone numbers) and sent a complaint to the airline's president, Calin Rovinescu.

No dice ...

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

And that is just one more reason that confirms my head-strong decision long ago to never - ever - fly Air Canada (unless stranded on a desert island with crocodiles, and even then maybe not).

It's Westjet (or before that CP Air for those who remember), British Airways or Cathay Pacific for me.

BZ Colonel.

 

[a_majoor]

Not only does HRG charge outrageous prices for flights, but we are forced to take Air Canada, with it's crap service, indifferent employees and cattlecar seating. (Just to be clear, HRG charged over $1000 one way from Kingston to Winnipeg. A quick look at Expedia showed same day same time flights with a round trip cost of $580. So we pay premium prices for crap service).

What is stunning is the Colonel was on vacation and could have chosen any airline he wanted. Bet he learns his lesson.

 

[George Wallace]

Air Canada did the same thing to me, basically, last November.  I had booked flights to Frankfurt, returning from Amsterdam.  A few months before travelling, Air Canada calls to say that the return flight from Amsterdam had been cancelled and the next flight was the next day.  All they would do was give me $100 for inconvenience that they had just imposed on me.  What a friggin joke.  That would hardly cover, if the stars all aligned, the cost of transportation to a hotel, the hotel, meals and then the transportation to the airport.  Luckily, I had time to make bookings on another airline to make my travel timings. 

I damn the Government for bailing out Air Canada (our National Carrier) over the years and driving better airlines like Canadian Pacific, Ward Air, Eastern Provincial, and many others into insolvency.  Air Canada has had such poor management over the decades and has been a money pit for tax payers money that it should be left to die a natural death, no longer to be propped up by the Federal Government.

 

[dapaterson]

HRG does not get the best rate for VIA either.  They don't get the military 25% and thus CAF pays a big premium for inferior service.

 

[Good2Golf]

HRG does not get the best rate for VIA either.  They don't get the military 25% and thus CAF pays a big premium for inferior service.

...and the CAF also gets charged a $38 booking fee...I always book personally if VIA is part of my travel itinerary. 

Remember, "Government Rate" doesn't mean most economical, it means the rate the Government "negotiated" with the service provider.  On a Venn diagram, Government and economical are often two circles that do not intersect.

 

[The Bread Guy]

...and the CAF also gets charged a $38 booking fee...

Not to mention all the other chu-CHING fees if you dare change your travel plans while enroute.

Remember, "Government Rate" doesn't mean most economical, it means the rate the Government "negotiated" with the service provider.

So true - found that out going to a meeting in Winnipeg, when my "called myself" rate was lower than the "government rate" others relied on.

 

[Lumber]

Not only does HRG charge outrageous prices for flights, but we are forced to take Air Canada...

We are not forced to take Air Canada. Your cell clerk can book with WestJet or Porter as well. He just need to choose the cheapest (within reason) flight.

Before I fly (and I've been doing it a lot lately), I always go on expedia and give my clerk a list of flights I want in order or preferance. So far, the flights he pulls up on HRG are the same flights and the price is usually comparable (I think HRG always has to pay full price whereas Expedia/Travelocity can offer discounts? maybe?).

Anyways, good on you Colonel! "It's a policy unless it isn't, and we'll decide when it is..." I've seen so many companies use this line.. ugh...