[Anonymous]

[montystreble]

I booked award travel with United, flying with Air Canada. When AC cancelled their flight and let my wife and 6-year-old daughter stranded in Toronto without re-booking or hotel United had no interest in helping at all. They don’t deserve my business, question whether they deserve yours.

[montystreble]

On hold for more than 2 hours with no response. Spend your money more wisely than this, I will not spend any money with United in the future, this will cost them $100,000 per annum.

[Shearer]

Is it a UA or AC flight number?

[Communipaw]

Monty….We need some more information:

What was the circumstances of the cancellation…weather….maintenance ect?

Was this a code share flight?

Did you attempt to work with Air Canada at all?

[montystreble]

This was a code-share with an AC flight number. There was no information from AC, other than the instruction to collect luggage. No hotels and no support. I was on hold with AC for over two hours with no answer. I guess that it was a weather related delay which became a cancellation due to crew hours.

[BAorBUST01]

On hold for more than 2 hours with no response. Spend your money more wisely than this, I will not spend any money with United in the future, this will cost them $100,000 per annum……….

well if it was weather related this cannot be helped, and the airline is under NO obligation to assist you as its OUTSIDE theyre control.

as en ex airline employee in the UK its travellers like you who throw theyre toys out the cot because theyre flights was cancelled due weather, that make they job unbearable…..the weather is the weather….flights are cancelled by ATC for SAFETY reasons, would you rather you wife and no doubt spolit child were stranded somewhere, or wud be it better thaat the plane takes off and kills everyone on board because thats what you didnt pay for…….cmon I know you may travel a lot , but I think you left your common sense in hotel room somewhere, and of course the airline is going to be busy, they have more than ONE cancelled flight during the winter, it happens every year, so get used to it or dont travel….simple

[montystreble]

No toys, just taking my business to airlines that serve their customers better by having staff available to help or assist. I understand safety, I’m not complaining about the cancelled flight, just the staffing. This is Toronto, I would expect that AC would be prepared for such a situation to occur. AC flew my family into the airport, I expect that a decent company would at least be able to re-book them and assist in finding a hotel room. I’ll refrain from insulting you or your family.

[BAorBUST01]

its AC’s main hub, I think that you will find that if you fly into ANY hub during disruption, be it YYZ, LHR, ORD, MAD, FRA etc with any airline you will be hard pressed to find employees to help, for instance at heathrow and in the UK in General if BA cancel 200 flights due to weather and the weather is BAD, the staff are sent as home dicated by LAW as employees have the right to be safe, thus giving customers a telephone number to call which of course will be busy, its winter it happens once every year and the only way to escape the weather related delays is either to not fly during said weather or to move to the equator, tho even then flights are often cancelled due to thunder storms caused by the excess heat, its a fact of life, most of us that live in the real world dont complain we have the intelligence to look for our own hotel room, which is easily paid for by the insurance company, oddly thatss what travel insurance is all about, paying for the unexpected. ………NEXT!

[montystreble]

When BA cancel 200 flights, how many people do you think that puts on the ground looking for hotel rooms, how efficient do you think it is for all of those people to look for hotel rooms individually? Decent airlines, and I can name a number (not BA) contact the local hotels and find out how many rooms are available and direct passengers to available hotels. This happened to me a few weeks ago with KLM 9at AMS, also a major hub) and has happened a number of times to me over the years in various locations (HKG and PVG for example). This is nothing to do with insurance or payment, I’m not too sure why you have gone down that track; Also I’m not sure just how good your weather forecasting abilities are, but you must have very limited opportunities for travel (between the fog, snow, typhoons, tropical storms). I understand why BA has such a poor reputation.

[Bucksnet]

BAorBUST01

Theyre is short for ‘they are’ and is correctly spelt they’re. However the word you’re looking for is their.

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-There,-Their-and-They’re

I won’t comment on the rest of your terrible English, but is no doubt as bad as your customer service skills. I know some passengers are arseholes, but the opening poster is obviously concerned about his stranded wife and child, yet it seems AC had no interest in helping them.

[Tom Otley]

BAor BUST01 – if you continue to post like this, you will be banned from this forum.

[canucklad]

As mentioned in other threads……a true reflection on how good a company is, depends on their ability to crisis manage.

Taking Montys claim at face value, then AC has not delivered…what is even more concerning is that it happened at YYZ & not YVR….where weather events should not come as a surprise….

I would have thought that AC management should have a core group of people who could maintain a presence at YYZ….i.e those colleagues who live locally near Pearson….who would not have difficulty getting home….As far as call centre management is concerned, I’m afraid your luck is your luck….It is only natural for call volumes to increase when issues occur…maybe they could’ve taken note of your call and arranged to call you back…..but it still woud not have resolved your problem in a timely manner!…..Hence the reason for foot soldiers at Pearson!

And to BAorBust….. I remember many years ago, relating a story to a fellow traveller of how CP looked after me in AMS, hotel and dinner vouchers after fog cancelled my onward AirUK flight to EDI……Was told how lucky I was to fly with CP as AC just abandoned you after their sector was finished…..But then again AC bought out CP , so maybe there lies a fiscal lesson in airline management!

[Binman62]

montystreble…..sounds awful and I can empathise with you concerns.

That said air travel is now so mass market that few airlines have the resources to deal with any form of disruption let alone mass disruption. Therefore the issue you highlight is one where the where excellent insurance is required. Not that this absolves the airline, but it is a great deal less stressful for you, if the insurance company pursues the carrier than yourself. And they do……

…..so much so that I would advise passengers never to claim both from an airline and an Insurance firm for the same incident. Particularly in the UK…..

I normally travel with my wife however we are all clear that when we face disruption we simply book a hotel and claim it back. Volcanic shut downs, weather and technical issue have all resulted in substantial claims and all paid promptly.

Given your stated annual expenditure on air travel, a night in local airport hotel would not be beyond your means with a subsequent claim at a later and less stressful time.

BA at LHR has a very good unit dedicated to securing rooms at local hotels and actually book rooms daily at special rates and release them if not required. Due to the sheer extent of the LHR operation and the limited number of hotels around the airport….yes in real terms very limited, it is often the case that the individual traveller at LHR can and does get a better deal. Hence the BA policy of pay and claim which works well as BA customer relations is very efficient and generally very good at this type of thing.

BAorBUST01 You say you are an ex BA staff member……….good.

The last thing BA needs is more like you. Such views are prehistoric and dinosaurs like you are not needed in a customer focused business. BA sadly, has too many like you still employed.

The bit about being sent home to keep you safe would have been laughable if it were not puerile drivel.

[montystreble]

Binman62, Many thanks for the comments. A night in a hotel is no issue for me, this is the price of air-travel. The issue is finding the hotel. My wife and daughter were traveling home from a family holiday while I have moved on elsewhere for work. They were stranded and stressed, unable to find a hotel or a replacement flight and have had to spend the night at the airport. I eventually got them booked onto another flight by calling United (Gold card line). I was just shocked that AC were so unprepared, I would have expected that they would have a system such as you describe BA having at LHR. Also I would hope that they would be more focused on those traveling with younger children, the elderly or with particular needs. Anyway I think that I have vented my spleen and will take pleasure booking alternatives to AC and United in the future.

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