Air Canada Tops List Once Again

[Kip Powick]

Complaints lodged over air travel soar by 21%

Air Canada tops watchdog's list with 663 grievances; Jetsgo second in beefs derby

BRENT JANG

From Monday's Globe and Mail

From lost luggage to flight delays, more passengers are barking about the airline industry's shortcomings.

The number of travellers' complaints about airlines jumped by 21 per cent last year, with Air Canada easily the No. 1 target of grievances while defunct Jetsgo Corp. generated a record number of phone calls to any government agency.

Air Canada, the country's largest carrier, had 663 grievances filed against it and its regional Jazz airline last year, up 37 per cent from 484 beefs in 2004, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency's air travel complaints program.

In total, the number of complaints lodged with Ottawa's air travel watchdog against domestic and foreign airlines climbed to 1,337 from 1,105.

While some consumers gave poor marks to Air Canada, the Montreal-based carrier recently told employees that there has been a turnaround in service, based on passenger surveys conducted by pollster Ipsos Reid on behalf of the airline.

"The most welcome improvement was in our baggage delivery, including our handling of priority baggage," Air Canada president Montie Brewer said in an internal letter to staff.

"We also received better ratings on the efficiency of our check-in and boarding process, on the grooming of the washrooms, and on our overall courtesy and helpfulness."

Mr. Brewer acknowledged that there is room for improvement, saying the Ipsos Reid findings "also indicate that we need to do a better job of keeping our customers informed of delays and connections while onboard, and we also need to improve the grooming of our aircraft interiors."

Air Canada emerged from bankruptcy protection in September, 2004, and passenger traffic at Air Canada and its Jazz operations climbed 8 per cent last year.

Industry experts say that some travellers probably felt sympathetic toward the carrier owing to the airline's precarious financial state in 2004 and didn't bother complaining, but more consumers voiced their gripes last year as the carrier recovered.

"All the carriers are in a tough spot. They're under pressure to provide service and still break even," transportation consultant Michael Bielecki said. "People get unhappy if bags are lost or the bags take too long to arrive."

The complaints program seeks to help resolve disagreements through mediation.

Disgruntled passengers who contacted the program named price-slashing Jetsgo as the second-worst offender, even though the discount airline operated less than three months last year. Jetsgo was the subject of complaints in 85 cases between Jan. 1 and March 10 of 2005.

Montreal-based Jetsgo, which halted operations on March 11, 2005, was cited 159 times in grievances filed during 2004, when it also was runner-up to Air Canada in the complaints derby.

[Guest rattler]

From the report:

Air Canada accounted for approximately 62 per cent of all issues

raised in complaints. Quality of Service continues to be identified as the primary

source of Air Canada issues. Of the 1,174 issues raised in complaints about

Air Canada,

fully 45.3 per cent were identified as Quality of Service. This is

about the average for all carriers and similar to previous reporting

periods for Air Canada. Similarly, during this period, the attitude of

staff or the company was mentioned 152 times; the lack of

communication 132 times, and the handling of the complaint 124

times.

The complete report can be viewed at:

2005 report

[Dropzone]

About 50% of the complaints can be attributed to people who still think AC is government owned. Enough said.....

[ccairspace]

Absolute numbers (incidence) are fine and dandy when assessing trends within an airline, but prevalence is more important when comparing airlines. Does anyone know how to find out how many flights (roughly) each airline would complete in each 6 month period? One could then quote complaints per 100,000 flights, say, rather than compare totals.

Air Canada's baggage issues are going to be hard to fix though because I think they are realted to aircraft type not employee handling. One thing that still complexes me is the issue of flying without one's checked bag. It is a question that is asked at the complaint site and the answer ("It doesn't fit the profile") isn't really an answer:

I thought that baggage had to travel with me for security reasons –

is that not the case?

Generally, this is true. If you checked bags and then failed to board the aircraft, your bags will be offloaded for security reasons. However, if you boarded the aircraft but your bags did not make the flight, there is no security action required. Your bags will travel on another flight. It might seem that this is no different from the situation where youchecked bags but failed to board, but this latter situation carries with it acertain security profile.

[cp fa]

About 50% of the complaints can be attributed to people who still think AC is government owned. Enough said.....

No kidding! On a recent flight from MEX to YYZ, one of the pilots made an announcement in English and Spanish. Before the flight attendants had a chance to translate it into French, a woman who spoke perfect English rang her call button to complain that the announcement should have been made in French as well because "this is a Crown Corporation"!

It's probably a good thing I'm not working anymore - I would have been sorely tempted to ask the woman when was the last time she picked up a newspaper.

Absolute numbers (incidence) are fine and dandy when assessing trends within an airline, but prevalence is more important when comparing airlines. Does anyone know how to find out how many flights (roughly) each airline would complete in each 6 month period? One could then quote complaints per 100,000 flights, say, rather than compare totals.

I think the fact that no other airlines were mentioned speaks volumes as to the intent of the article. Perhaps if the statistics were given in the context of the number of passengers carried, and compared with other carriers, maybe the article wouldn't have been sensational enough to sell newspapers.

[Guest rattler]

No kidding! On a recent flight from MEX to YYZ, one of the pilots made an announcement in English and Spanish. Before the flight attendants had a chance to translate it into French, a woman who spoke perfect English rang her call button to complain that the announcement should have been made in French as well because "this is a Crown Corporation"!

It's probably a good thing I'm not working anymore - I would have been sorely tempted to ask the woman when was the last time she picked up a newspaper.

I think the fact that no other airlines were mentioned speaks volumes as to the intent of the article. Perhaps if the statistics were given in the context of the number of passengers carried, and compared with other carriers, maybe the article wouldn't have been sensational enough to sell newspapers.

In actual fact Air Canada is under the obligation (unlike any other Canadian Air Carrier) to provide service in both official languages to the same level as "Federal Government offices".

On that note I was in a Federal office last week and posted for public information, despite the requirements of the ACT, was a notice in both languages advising the public that this particular public office could not provide services in French and that those who wished to be served in French should visit the main office in downtown YYC. I wonder what would happen if AC were to take the same course of action.

[Don Hudson]

cc...Air Canada would do in the neighbourhood of 140,000 to 150,000 flights in a six month period, carrying approximately 50,000 passengers a day, (I think this is low but I'm being conservative).

A story in the Times-Colonist in Victoria had an article stating that airlines the world over lose approximately $1.5 billion per year in delivering lost baggage. The problem is industry-wide and is not measured by the "number of complaints" but is recorded by their own internal statistics.

I think examining it on a "per 100,000 flights" basis is worthwhile and likely a fairer way to treat the problem. On that basis, we're looking at 663 (Jazz and Mainline) complaints on approximately 280,000 flights for a year (mainline only, I don't have the per-day numbers of flights for Jazz). An even better way to look at it is "per million passengers".

Re "Crown Corp" etc...although this and recent governments have thankfully, blessedly kept their hands off the industry it was time years ago to free Air Canada from the shackles of the "Air Canada Public Paricipation Act".

[handyman]

Air Canada accounted for approximately 62 per cent of all issues

raised in complaints.

Stats are just a wonderful thing don't ya think? What does AC fly...probably 62% or more of all commercial Canadian air traffic in the 37+ seat category!

[newgirl]

CC is in my opinion correct with regards to the aircraft type used on certain routes not the employee handling. Although in some stations the baggage agents are also at minimum staff levels.

Jazz's RJ's and CRJ's do not seem to be able to handle a full passenger and baggage load. Unfortunately from my base most passengers are connecting out of YYZ to Europe, South America or the Caribbean. If they go west then its Australia or Asia. None travel with less than 2 50lb suitcases. Many travel with an extra piece and pay the extra charge. However the aircraft on these routes can't handle the extra baggage let alone the allowed checked baggage.

Most passengers are happy to be on a jet but not thankful when the bags don't arrive. On the other hand most passengers weren't happy with the Dash8 service but were thankful their bags arrived with them.

Don't get me wrong , Jazz is providing great service to the smaller bases within the perameters allowed them. I just feel that Mainline was too eager to give away the small bases to Jazz.

My opinion is that the majority of baggage complaints are from Jazz not Mainline.