Air Canada - ACA

...treatment at the hands of Air Canada before I forget the fine, scintillating details...

We chose Air Canada for the following reasons:

- A stop-over was needed to secure the deal we wanted, and Toronto is a good place to break the flying monotony.
- Aside from some random Canadian marines, Canada has no direct military presence or involvement in Iraq which minimises the threat of danger and/or disruption and cancellation ...
...I'm thinking twice about using Air Canada (particularly via Toronto) again because:

- Their ground-staff have redefined the word "inefficiency" (look in the picture dictionary and it's an Air Canada uniform).
- My luggage has spent an extraordinary amount of time sitting around in Toronto enjoying the sights while I've been elsewhere.
- The current spread of Air Canada operations in the under-refurbishment Toronto ... more

I've just got back from an exhausting but cracking holiday to the States, and strange as it may seem to write an op straight away, I find myself in that jet-lagged, zombified state in which little else is possible, and I want to write about my treatment at the hands of Air Canada before I forget the fine, scintillating details...

We chose Air Canada for the following reasons:

- A stop-over was needed to secure the deal we wanted, and Toronto is a good place to break the flying monotony.
- Aside from some random Canadian marines, Canada has no direct military presence or involvement in Iraq which minimises the threat of danger and/or disruption and cancellation caused by terrorist threat.
- Their on-board service is (justifiably) lauded, and they are a member of the Star Alliance along with United (my cousin and travelling partner being ex-United cabin crew).
- The itinerary fitted in with check-in plans since the flight left Orlando at 12:15.

I'm thinking twice about using Air Canada (particularly via Toronto) again because:

- Their ground-staff have redefined the word "inefficiency" (look in the picture dictionary and it's an Air Canada uniform).
- My luggage has spent an extraordinary amount of time sitting around in Toronto enjoying the sights while I've been elsewhere.
- The current spread of Air Canada operations in the under-refurbishment Toronto Pearson Airport are so convoluted that it's an incompetence waiting to happen.

Let's take it from the top.

Just as an example of the itinerary I'm covering, this is the route I flew today:

AC 913 from MCO (Orlando International) to YYZ (Toronto Pearson), then AC 856 from YYZ to LHR (London Heathrow).

Outbound, I did the reverse route, which in timing terms means leaving the UK around 3-4pm, and arriving in the US at local time 11pm. Coming back flights leave at around 12pm, alleviating what I like to call the Virgin Gap (or: what the hell do I do between being booted from my hotel and returning my rental car and being herded onto my flight?). This gets you into the UK ostensibly at 6:30am the next day (or 7, since we were stuck in a holding pattern), ready to have a nap and re-arm.

CHECK-IN

At both ends, check in was a fairly relaxed affair. In London, no-one asked the standard security questions ("have you packed this bag yourself?" "did a shifty character suggest you carry a packet of unmarked white powder and a 'toy' gun with you?") but things seemed organised enough. We were informed that in order to pass both Canadian and famously stringent US immigration in one go, we would have to collect our baggage in Toronto, have it checked by US customs, and pop it back into the system. In Orlando, we had to cart our luggage over to a security booth for a once over (and opened) before it could be tagged and strapped and sent on its way. All in all, check-in was as smooth as it could be, civilised and fairly efficient. No problems there, then.

BOARDING

The first hint that some of the employees of Air Canada, armed with an atlas and both hands, STILL can't locate the whereabouts of their rear end. In LHR, departure was delayed by almost an hour because boarding did not begin unti five minutes before the departure time, and was not organised, as it should be, by boarding from rear rows forward. Instead a crush of bored and inanely drivelling passengers stood around, backpacks shouldered for over 45 minutes whilst... nothing happened. Boarding was similarly dicey time-wise throughout, although on all other flights the organisation was better, being initially standby, first and business and then sections of the aircraft.

AIRCRAFT / IN-FLIGHT PERSEVERANCE

(I hesitate even in the best circumstances to say "entertainment")

Not being the savviest plane-spotter, I had the good fortune to be with an ex-flight attendant who informed me that we were on a brand spanking new Airbus A340 500 series, and I have to say, it was a lovely arrangement. Legroom ahoy (at 5'9" this is important to me!) and a personal tv screen with vast choice of movies, music and games. (I succumbed to: Return of the King, a selection of Pink Panther animated shorts, the outrageously, whimsically, bizarrely wonderful Oscar-winning Aussie animation Harvie Krumpet, a game of Backgammon and waiting for The Cure's Just Like Heaven to play on the Rock Channel). The smaller and less electronically marvellous connecting plane was nevertheless just as comfortable, as was the less spiffy but even MORE roomy return airbus (the fact that the chosen movie was The Station Agent and I had The Collector Collector and The Poisonwood Bible with me helped).

IN-FLIGHT SERVICE

(Needless to say this was economy, or "hospitality", class)

Pretty good, actually. Yes, there was an officious flight attendant or two, but there was also a group of helpful, reassuring and pleasant crew, a good mixture of ages and both sexes well-represented, mostly efficient and swift in their service. Food was remarkably decent for a plane, being only about 10% polystyrene, and since we'd agreed to move forward in order to reunite a family (to better seats, no less), we were given first dibs on the old chicken-or-salmon dilemma. Drinks were followed by late lunch followed by snack. On the connecting flights, soft drinks were free but snacks and alcohol were for buying, and there were some pleasant enough choices. Safety announcements were swift (even when the video conked out and a hasty manual demo was thrown together) and bi-lingual although even I, with my francophone knowledge totalling two words ("voiture" and "minuit", as it happens) could tell that the attendant in question was no cunning linguist. There was an element of relaxed faffing occasionally, but mostly disturbances were few, relaxation (insofar as I can relax stuck in a tincan at 35,000ft) was possible, and service was actually fine and dandy.

BAGGAGE RECLAIM

Here comes the vitriol bit! Concentrate.

Outbound: (spot the sleight of hand here)

We collect the bags from the carousel in Terminal 1 of YYZ. Domestic/US flights leave from Terminal 2. There is a bus. But first, please put them on this carousel rather than carrying them with you, they will arrive at your terminal promptly.

Wanna bet?

Five minutes before the (delayed) connection, we were trekking along behind a highly empathetic and helpful (but also powerless) Air Canada employee, being rushed, baggage-free, to US immigration and customs. (Thank you, Pina, you were a star!). The bags arrived some twelve hours later (luckily we both had deodorant and toothpaste but wearing the same t-shirt for almost 24 hours until the mall opens and you can buy a fresh one, not mention everything else you're wearing is not an experience I'd like to repeat) and were delivered promptly to our hotel.

Warning: Should you choose to miss your flight in order to reclaim your baggage, you will have to shoulder any and all expenses incurred, including hotel stays. Air Canada accepts no liability, although lost luggage will of course be subject to compensation, and if you have decent travel insurance you should be able to recoup money for essentials replacement if your luggage is delayed for more than 12 hours.

(Anyone else wish their luggage came, Pratchett-style, with feet?!)

We laughed it off.

Return: (spot the slight of brain here)

We arrive at baggage reclaim. Alex spots the first of her two (the one with her laundry and not much else in it, the other one has the good stuff). Martin gets his two. Alex waits. Alex waits some more.

Hold on a second, haven't I already done this missing baggage lark?!

It arrived two flights later and was delivered to my house by 3pm, and I have to say Baggage Services were good about keeping in touch, even texting me a delivery time, although I had something of an apoplectic Alex fit at the man who told me it was "the wrong time of year to travel" when I suggested that twice in a week was a bit much, however much my suitcase seemed to really like Canada.

Enough!

I have to put all this down to the very unfortunate position Air Canada find themselves in Toronto, where the imminent new terminal and the fact that operations are spread across the three terminals mean that losing baggage in transit is something of a national pasttime. Although most of the staff were empathetic and tried their best, some were irritatingly offhand and dismissive, particularly irksome when time, money and patience is at its limit.

So what, in retrospect do I have to say about Air Canada?

Well, on the plus side, the service is decent on board, the fleet is new and sparkling (apart from being confronted by -and avoiding- a very grubby toilet but I really don't have the stomach to go into that), general in-flight perserverance is possible and when things do go wrong, they are quick to own up and do something about it.

On the other side, there is a lax air of worrying incompetence that pervades operations on the ground which covers everything in the suspicious scent of day-old sprouts and makes everything just that little bit more stressful. Not being an avid flyer (I fear take-offs, suffer dizziness and earache through landings and feel claustrophobic, insomniac, scared and bored in between) at the best of times, on discovering yet another cock-up, I burst into tears. Premature and dramatic, but I'd really had enough, and being Mediterranean... well, all's well and good now, and it hasn't spoiled my lovely holiday memories, but still, I can't justify more than three stars.

Yes, I'll probably fly with them again, especially since I'm gagging to actually visit Canada and stay there sometime soon. But I'd transfer my own luggage on the outbound stretch and be prepared on the return.

I've never really watched South Park. But I'm beginning to appreciate the song...

Thanks for reading.

Alex
xxx 

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