Air Canada manages to make Jet Star look good…

[Annabuzzy]

…there, i said it. Christ they’re incompetent. Will the plane be mechanically safe to take off? Who knows? It’s 50/50. what tf will they do when demand returns? If their best planes are only safe to run half the time, what’s the chances with the rest? Late takeoff? If the plane is actually functional, thats almost guaranteed. Which then leads to the next problem - too long a delay and it exceeds the maximum shift for pilots (even though they haven’t actually been flying ) so, again…flight cancelled. Oh and lost baggage. Ffs.

I heartily urge everyone if flying to Canada to skip Air Canada and use Qantas or some other carrier. And internally use someone else - SP folk indicated to me they have far more problems with AC than the other airlines. Yes there’s a touch of spite here but quite sincerely this is a PSA. Far and away the worst airline I’ve flown with. That includes JetStar.

 

[Donza]

 

[Lady Penelope]

Can I say …. “I told you so ….” ? Welcome to the “I love Air Canada“ club!

 

[Annabuzzy]

Can I say …. “I told you so ….” ? Welcome to the “I love Air Canada“ club!

Oh they really suck. It’s indescribable how bad they are. My daughter is saying “can we please not go back to Canada again?” Good work AC.

 

[Donza]

OK. In a "normal" year.

Sydney to vancouver.
You have AC and QF direct?

Or you can go by Japan on ANA or JAL (6 hours longer)
Or Cathay?
Air NZ via Auckland looks ok.

 

[Legs Akimbo]

There is an upside. I was once a bit late from LA for a connection to Kamloops. The Canadian immigration bloke was relaxed. "Don't worry. It's AC. They will be late and you will make it".

 

[piolet]

…there, i said it. Christ they’re incompetent. Will the plane be mechanically safe to take off? Who knows? It’s 50/50. what tf will they do when demand returns? If their best planes are only safe to run half the time, what’s the chances with the rest? Late takeoff? If the plane is actually functional, thats almost guaranteed. Which then leads to the next problem - too long a delay and it exceeds the maximum shift for pilots (even though they haven’t actually been flying ) so, again…flight cancelled. Oh and lost baggage. Ffs.

I heartily urge everyone if flying to Canada to skip Air Canada and use Qantas or some other carrier. And internally use someone else - SP folk indicated to me they have far more problems with AC than the other airlines. Yes there’s a touch of spite here but quite sincerely this is a PSA. Far and away the worst airline I’ve flown with. That includes JetStar.

Flight and duty limits

 

[Annabuzzy]

OK. In a "normal" year.

Sydney to vancouver.
You have AC and QF direct?

Or you can go by Japan on ANA or JAL (6 hours longer)
Or Cathay?
Air NZ via Auckland looks ok.

They‘ve put our daughter off a whole country - quite an achievement.

 

[Donza]

They‘ve put our daughter off a whole country - quite an achievement.

off to Japan it is then.

 

[dawooduck]

So your flight was cancelled and you whinged so much your daughter hates Canada.

Stralya

 

[Roymond]

I think @sly_karma had a comment a few months back…
‘Air Canada- we’re not happy until you’re not happy’.
That said, from brisso, AC is our only direct flight option into Vancouver.
It’s worth running the gauntlet to avoid one more connector flight.

 

[Annabuzzy]

So your flight was cancelled and you whinged so much your daughter hates Canada.

Stralya

You‘re right. Do all your flying with AC. You deserve each other.

 

[Stick]

I despise AC, but the thought of transiting through LA again also sends shivers down my spine. We fly Virgin, so Melb to Van direct does have some appeal.

Granted I also know that this comment will absolutely come back to haunt me..

 

[Lady Penelope]

I think you just have to have low expectations with AC. If the flight actually departs on time, you get (some) cabin service, and your bags arrive with you: expectations exceeded!

 

[teckel]

What a f****** self-entitled whinger.
Not saying that AC is good, but whinging that he only got 2 hrs sleep on a 4 hr flight after he'd picked a fight with the cabin crew and eaten a meal is all a bit rich.

 

[Legs Akimbo]

My experience of flying in Canada (and North America generally) is that the weather is the factor that will stuff up your plans. Well above any vagary of a single airline. If you haven't included buffers in your itinerary you are naïve. If you get excited about delays you are too highly strung.

 

[Chalkie]

OK. In a "normal" year.

Sydney to vancouver.
You have AC and QF direct?

Or you can go by Japan on ANA or JAL (6 hours longer)
Or Cathay?
Air NZ via Auckland looks ok.

Air NZ via Auckland (from Sydney or Melbourne) was our preferred pre-pandemic routing (having tried CX via HKG and QF via LAX). The inbound to Oz stop in Auckland meant a shower and a chance to stretch legs. My Canadian +1 is not an Air Canada fan and pines for the days when Canadian Pacific still existed (before it was taken over by Air Canada)...

The long term survival of CX is currently not looking good, and it gets worse with each day passing.

 

[chrisj]

I've flown plenty of shitty third world airlines in all sorts of conditions.

None of them has been remotely as bad as my Air Canada experience.

They should be stripped of their right to call themselves Air Canada, because that implies they have some sort of flagship status and reflects on the whole country.

 

[gareth_oau]

OK. In a "normal" year.

Sydney to vancouver.
You have AC and QF direct?

Or you can go by Japan on ANA or JAL (6 hours longer)
Or Cathay?
Air NZ via Auckland looks ok.

we've done ANZ PERr-AUK-YVR, really nice! (was business class)

 

[dawooduck]

You‘re right. Do all your flying with AC. You deserve each other.

Shortest route direct flight at lowest cost ....

Squeeze in and relax with Anna Karen for entertainment or buy a better seat.

Bloke has a lovely ski holiday in a pandemic but ... goes for the populist whinge.

Everyone knows AC is budget travel.

Strayla ❤️

 

[chrisj]

Shortesr route direct flight at lowest cost ....

My shortest flight involved 20 hours in Vancouver domestic terminal when their flight from Sydney arrived too late for their connecting Kamloops flight.

 

[Annabuzzy]

Shortest route direct flight at lowest cost ....

Squeeze in and relax with Anna Karen for entertainment or buy a better seat.

Bloke has a lovely ski holiday in a pandemic but ... goes for the populist whinge.

Everyone knows AC is budget travel.

Strayla ❤️

Never flown them before. Never paid any attention to them before. Never again.

 

[dawooduck]

My shortest flight involved 20 hours in Vancouver domestic terminal when their flight from Sydney arrived too late for their connecting Kamloops flight.

That would suck ....

Our first AC experience was .... "she ain't leaving Sydney today". The one and only bad experience in 9 trips to Calgary or Edmonton, Castlegar, Kelowna.

I spent too many hours in LAX to ever want to go near the place again. Even refused a connecting flight after two beers in the bar over 5hrs of waiting. "Sorry sir please wait another 4 hours" ....

Jet star to Japan via Cairns .... gulag standard. Seven years in Adelaide with countless Sydney Red Eye cancelled.

Cattle class air travel is basically so shite that whinging is a total waste of energy and especially on the way home from a ski trip.

Sit back and dream of those white turns, if it doesn’t crash ya winning.

 

[cold wombat]

Never flown them before. Never paid any attention to them before. Never again.

I did Sydney - Vancouver with them about 15 years ago. The best thing I could say about it was "agricultural". Nothing anyone has said about them since has surprised me.

 

[dawooduck]

I did Sydney - Vancouver with them about 15 years ago. The best thing I could say about it was "agricultural". Nothing anyone has said about them since has surprised me.

The cattleclass seats are size 10 female

 

[cold wombat]

The cattleclass seats are size 10 female

My experience had me looking for the fencing wire holding it all together. Not kidding.

 

[Crystal]

Like many here I have flown many budget airlines... we have flown AC heaps over the years and yes we've had issues... we don't overly stress. It's cheap, direct, we build in buffers in all our itineraries, and avoid connects or short connections. When we have a complex flight we go with the full service airlines and if it's many many connections and time critical Business class is the way to do it You get what you pay for I guess. Even flying the bus of the ski United is 'interesting'

 

[Donza]

I thought AC was a full service airline?

 

[Crystal]

I thought AC was a full service airline?

Well if they say that..okay. We all know they are not though

 

[sara777]

I flew with AC only once in 2007 - it was a direct flight from Munich (I think) to Vancouver - and it was perfectly fine back then. I had a terrible experience with border control/ lost bags in Vancouver on the way back (booked for Hawaii - Sydney); missed my flight as a result and had to go back via Japan. Fortunately, the insurance paid for that stuff up.

 

[Kash]

You might need some context maybe, and read the comments for extra laughs.

 

[skifree]

We flew AC a few years back, no issues, we got there & back as did our kit.

My only memory of the airline was the aeroplane was old & looked it. Everything was worn & threadbare. But all stayed in formation during the flight so all good.

And the staff did better than some random airline (might have been BA) Hamburg to London who threw the bread rolls one by one to the staff member next to the row being served. Did better than the English 1st 11, no dropped catches so wasn’t all bad.

 

[buckwheat]

Friends are currently en route back from Van. Have reported 24h+ delays at both ends. Yep, AC.

 

[skifree]

You might need some context maybe, and read the comments for extra laughs.

People pay extra to get a seat on those classic birds.

 

[Reetro]

I think @sly_karma had a comment a few months back…
‘Air Canada- we’re not happy until you’re not happy’.
That said, from brisso, AC is our only direct flight option into Vancouver.
It’s worth running the gauntlet to avoid one more connector flight.

We will do that to simply save time and for $160 each one way , its acceptable. Anna might just need to be in First class Singapore or JAL to be happy.

Could it be that bad, or do folk here just want to protect there seats from the crowd>/?

 

[DidSurfNowSki]

I can give a positive report of a AC flight.

Coming back to Sydney from Vancouver I ended up in the Maple Club >12 hours from the flight. Had many, many drinks. Quickest flight across the Pacific ever as I doze most of the way !

Otherwise, basically every single AC flight I’ve tried to get on ran behind schedule.

 

[sly_karma]

Remember back in the 70s when air travel was expensive and prestigious, and they had stewardesses rather than gender-neutral flight attendants? The airlines hired attractive young women and sent them to their in-house "charm school" for extensive training in grooming, deportment and attention to customer wants.

Well, those very same women are still stuck working at Air Canada because the super scheme is lousy they can't afford to retire. They're not very happy about it, and it shows...

 

[Marty McSly]

Could it be that bad, or do folk here just want to protect there seats from the crowd>/?

It can be that bad. It's a bit of a lottery.

I can't complain about my flights to and from in 2017. 787’s out of Brisbane are a lot newer than 777's out of Sydney.

Service was, well, budget standard. Not entirely unexpected.

Air travel is no longer the luxury it was in the 1950's or 60's. It's a commodity now, as commonplace as catching a bus or train.

If your expectations are more in line with taking the express from Parramatta to Central rather than the Queen Mary from New York to Southampton, you're less likely to be disappointed.

 

[Annabuzzy]

I thought AC was a full service airline?

I thought the same? Isn’t it the Canadian flagship airline?

 

[Annabuzzy]

We will do that to simply save time and for $160 each one way , its acceptable. Anna might just need to be in First class Singapore or JAL to be happy.

Could it be that bad, or do folk here just want to protect there seats from the crowd>/?

It’s really that bad.

 

[Annabuzzy]

It can be that bad. It's a bit of a lottery.

I can't complain about my flights to and from in 2017. 787’s out of Brisbane are a lot newer than 777's out of Sydney.

Service was, well, budget standard. Not entirely unexpected.

Air travel is no longer the luxury it was in the 1950's or 60's. It's a commodity now, as commonplace as catching a bus or train.

If your expectations are more in line with taking the express from Parramatta to Central rather than the Queen Mary from New York to Southampton, you're less likely to be disappointed.

To be honest I couldn’t care less about the quality of in flight service although Air Canada is the worst I’ve experienced on that by some margin. My gripe is the regular inability to have aircraft available that are capable of taking off (x2), regular considerable delays (as in multiples of hours, not 10 or 15 mins here or there) without any attempt at apology or explanation, lost baggage with zero apparent t care, and a culture that puts themselves first, and passengers a distant last.

I had definitely got to the point where I did my bit turning up well before time to assist in a timely takeoff, fully expecting there was a better than 50% chance the flight would be postponed. A good result was a multi-hour delay. All associated as I say with a lack of effort or care from staff. Their shift had completed, we’d be told. Apparently we should have felt thankful anyone from Air Canada was there at all.

Truly awful. Almost beyond words awful. I’ve done my bit though and shared the warning.

In good news my daughter has revised her position from not wanting to go to Canada again at all, to “please god don’t make me fly Air Canada again”.

 

[Telezacski]

We had a four hour delay leaving Vancouver which meant on arrival in Sydney we would miss our connecting flight.

As we land they called our name and advised us to make ourselves known at the counter as we left the plane, being at the back it took a while to leave the plane. As we got to the counter nobody was there, we waited 15 minutes and then left figuring we would sort the flights at the counter once out of customs.

Anyway the A/c lady questioned why we did make ourselves known, I explained the staff had left, very little sympathy. She then said we missed the flight so they had hired us a car to drive to Canberra as qantas didn’t have flights for a further 8 hours. At that stage we had been on the road for nearly 24 hours, I explained I was in no state to drive and it would be dangerous (there is a vague law on driving fatigued).

Anyway after a long argument they acknowledged we couldn’t drive so hired us a hotel room and a flight. It was a battle.

 

[Roymond]

Maybe it's you people south of the border.
Honestly, we've never had a problem coming out of Brisbane.
The fact we've got three coeliacs in the family takes the in flight experience out of it- we largely bring our own food.
So there is no experience.
Out of interest, perhaps @piolet would like to comment. What’s the inside word on AC.
Are we all whingers or is it a really a dud?

 

[gareth_oau]

I was on a Delta flight from LA to Van, and this charming flight attendant made a coffee for someone near me.

As the flight was commencing its landing, she came around to collect rubbish etc, and the guy chuckled with her that he hadnt actually drunk it.

And she very spitefully said to him, " oh that is perfectly alright that you didnt bother to drink the coffee that I had wasted my good time and effort making specially for you"

 

[Telezacski]

Maybe it's you people south of the border.
Honestly, we've never had a problem coming out of Brisbane.
The fact we've got three coeliacs in the family takes the in flight experience out of it- we largely bring our own food.
So there is no experience.
Out of interest, perhaps @piolet would like to comment. What’s the inside word on AC.
Are we all whingers or is it a really a dud?

Give it time you northerners may not get all the new planes when they re open all the routes….

Actually we have started to mark vego on the meal tickets as we tend to get better food.

 

[dawooduck]

Well, those very same women are still stuck working at Air Canada because the super scheme is lousy they can't afford to retire. They're not very happy about it, and it shows...

They all now work at Qantas

 

[Chowder11]

Interstingly I have found International AC to be excellent.

Have done all 3 direct routes Brissy, Sydney and Melbourne over the years and they have all be quite good. Maybe luck, maybe more attention to Int, the Dreamliner makes a difference also.

Internally around Canada, they are as bad as any airline ive flown. We ended up just flying Westjet internally and found them to be fine.

 

[Marty McSly]

My gripe is the regular inability to have aircraft available that are capable of taking off (x2), regular considerable delays (as in multiples of hours, not 10 or 15 mins here or there) without any attempt at apology or explanation, lost baggage with zero apparent t care, and a culture that puts themselves first, and passengers a distant last.

A lottery, as I said.

My experience with the schedule was faultless. But as I said, I went via Brisbane, the Dreamliners were practically new and the weather was benign.

Your experience with delays is the worst that I can recall on this site. Old planes, coming out of mothballs after nearly 2 years. I'd be expecting issues, as I would with a car that hadn't been driven for the same period. Maybe the maintenance crew should have been more thorough?

 

[Annabuzzy]

. Maybe the maintenance crew should have been more thorough?

Yep.

Its as if 10 mins before scheduled departure they collectively said;

”Hey guys we have a full flight scheduled to depart in like 10 minutes eh? We ‘d better check this thing over.”

 

[Reetro]

It can be that bad. It's a bit of a lottery.

I can't complain about my flights to and from in 2017. 787’s out of Brisbane are a lot newer than 777's out of Sydney.

Service was, well, budget standard. Not entirely unexpected.

Air travel is no longer the luxury it was in the 1950's or 60's. It's a commodity now, as commonplace as catching a bus or train.

If your expectations are more in line with taking the express from Parramatta to Central rather than the Queen Mary from New York to Southampton, you're less likely to be disappointed.

Marty we save 4 or so hours and get to Vancouver , In fact for the $116 we can go to Calgary and work back to Vancouver , it costs no more.
If you know what you are getting , you still get there. The Brisbane flight came in and went out every day at lunch around the same time I walked in the city (back in the day) They start they say in October , lets see. I don't want to hub through LAX or SYd.
I think Anna wants the Queen Mary , which my grandfather took from New York to London in 1969, but he ... was SKI .. ing (spending Kids inheritance)
I agree 787 from Brisbane would be new aircraft.. lets see next year

Give it time you northerners may not get all the new planes when they re open all the routes….

Actually we have started to mark vego on the meal tickets as we tend to get better food.

Brisbane has always had the new aircraft , after all it will should be the second busiest port in oz...