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Can Ac Ever Overcome It's Negative Image?


props2you

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Brings back memories of a certain 747 incident which raised the question.....

'Do you need a haz slip to the cockpit if you have a food truck in compartment 51?'

I was on that tow crew. right after CARA took over.

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Then again, it's a sure bet that if you fly often enough, the day will come on airline X that you vowed never to fly it's competitor again.

http://www.thewesternstar.com/News/Local/2014-04-28/article-3705133/Passenger-not-pleased-with-Porter/1

Passenger not pleased with Porter

Says airline left travellers in lurch with unplanned stop in Stephenville

Emma Young’s vacation got off to a great start with a visit to Montreal to attend a Cher concert, but flying back home to St. John’s did not go as planned.

article.jpg

Porter Airlines taxiing out at St. John’s airport. — File photo by Gary Hebbard/The Telegram

Young is not impressed with how Porter Airlines treated her and dozens of other travellers.

“I’ve never been treated so poorly,” Young said Monday afternoon, shortly after completing a 10-hour drive from Stephenville to St. John’s. “I always say, ‘I’ll never fly Air Canada.’ But now I would gladly fly Air Canada instead of Porter.”

This change of heart comes a day after Porter flight 255 failed to land in St. John’s on a foggy Sunday after departing from Halifax. According to Young, passengers were informed prior to departure from Halifax that the plane may not land in St. John’s. It would proceed to Stephenville for refuelling before either attempting another landing in St. John’s or returning to Halifax.

The plane circled St. John’s International Airport for approximately one hour before leaving for Stephenville to refuel. It arrived in Stephenville at 9 p.m.

“At that point in time they told us that coming back to St. John’s to try to land was not an option, that the company had said they want the flight back in Halifax.”

A pilot later presented two options to the passengers — go back to Halifax and possibly wait until Friday for a flight to St. John’s, or get off the plane in Stephenville.

In both scenarios, the passengers would be responsible for the cost of accommodations and getting home.

Staying in Halifax those extra five nights would cost at least $1,000 for those with no friends or family in the area, according to Young, who managed to rent a car with her mother at a cost of $800. That rental cost includes an additional charge for not returning the car to Stephenville.

Young said passengers were aware of other flights landing in St. John’s by checking their cellphones. The airport in Stephenville was closed and there were no Porter agents at the airport. The airline is set to introduce a route between Stephenville and Halifax in late June.

They remained on the plane for another two hours while passengers decided what they would do. At this point, there was no water on the plane.

“We couldn’t talk to anyone,” said Young, who did however compliment the crew and captain for dealing with a tough situation as well as they could. The captain had to use a flashlight to unload and locate the luggage of the 63 passengers who elected to get off the plane, which seats 74.

A request to have Porter pay for a bus to transport passengers was denied, according to Young.

“They turned their backs on us completely,” she said. “Once we were off the plane, we were no longer their problem and they did nothing for us.”

Young feels passengers deserve compensation for the extra expenses they incurred, but the airline maintains when weather is a factor, the passenger is responsible for all costs.

“They were told it was their choice (to get off in Stephenville), but any costs for ground transportation or accommodation was their responsibility because the circumstances were weather related,” a Porter spokesman told The Telegram in an email.

“Assistance of this type is typically provided for situations within the airline’s control, such as mechanical delays.”

According to the airliner, passengers were told prior to departing Sunday from Halifax they would get a refund if they chose not to travel and instead booked the next available flight. That would still have entailed possibly waiting in Halifax until Friday.

“We always look at alternatives, such as adding extra flights, to help passengers in situations like this,” wrote the Porter spokesman.

“However, when so many passengers decided to deplane in Stephenville, the need to do so in this case was less urgent because the remaining customers could be accommodated in more reasonable time frames. Passengers were given the best and most accurate information at the time, but this doesn’t account for subsequent efforts to improve the situation. For example, had everyone returned to Halifax, we would make every effort to get them a flight as soon as possible (sooner than five days) based on factors such as aircraft and crew availability.”

arobinson@thetelegram.com

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A close friend of mine, who travels extensively in North America for work started using Westjet for travel. After only a couple of trips he returned to flying AC due to the superior service he receives. I know several more people who have the same sentiments. While I use Westjet in this example, there are other airlines that are avoided at all costs but AC continues to offer excellent service.

The problem is no one ever takes the time to praise a company for good service since good service is expected. Make one mistake, though, and expect to be publicly chastised for the rest of your life.

I fly AC once a month on average and have never see an example of service as described in the article. I have seen passengers who were being disrespectful of agents and Flight attendants who, frankly, I would have told to pound sand but the employees did their best to keep the situations civil. Some people just have a sense of entitlement that is completely unjustified and when it is not satisfied they scream as loud as possible and blame someone else for their shortcoming.

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Guest longtimer

Strange how the news story about Porter changed just a bit when posted, the original was not bolded nor was it in large type...... :icon_anal:


But there is some good news if this happens later in the year, Porter will have an infrastructure in Stephenville. :Grin-Nod: :Grin-Nod:


The Western Star>
Frank Frank Gale
Published on April 23, 2014

Porter Airlines is introducing seasonal service between Stephenville and Halifax from June 28 to Aug. 31 operating one weekly round-trip flight.

That flight will take place on Saturday departing from Halifax at 4:55 p.m. and landing at 6:35 p.m. in Stephenville. A return flight departs Stephenville on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and arrives in Halifax at 10:25 a.m. local time.

“We are extremely excited to announce this partnership with Porter Airlines to service travelers in Western and Southwestern Newfoundland,” Brenda Martin, Stephenville airport manager, said.

She said the people of Bay St. George have been asking and dreaming of Porter Airlines and now they have the opportunity to support Porter at Stephenville airport.

The airline will be offering introductory one-way fares beginning at $163, including all fees and taxes. Flights are now available for booking at www.flyporter.com. Connections to other Porter Airlines destinations are available.

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Quote from the Telegram article:

"Young said passengers were aware of other flights landing in St. Johns by checking their cellphones"

"Everyone" is an expert. Especially passengers. "But my wife just looked outside at home and says it's sunny" (Insert eyeroll)...

Regarding boestar's comment- one area that no airline in Canada can come close to touching is the ability for Air Canada (and Jazz) to do "rescue missions". The frequency of their flights and ability to often 'up gauge' is a huge advantage in these scenarios.

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Weather issues can leave an airline and its passengers both stuck between a rock and a hard place. That said, sometimes doing more for the customer is just good business, even when it isn't company policy.

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The ability to react to IROPS is what separates the men from the boys. Having flexibility and the equipment to react to an IROP event does not come without a cost. That cost, however, does help alleviate the customer service issues noted above. Customer service should be a high priority and customer service has a cost. Porter had ZERO flexibility in their schedule to support the customer service. The article stated that the aircraft was needed back in YHZ. that means that single IROP event would have cascaded to several downline events due to the lack of a replacement aircraft. Charter airlines have this same issue. When all aircraft are utilized to the maximum, there is no room for an IROP as that pushes the whole schedule out of line.

AC, being a mature airline, is not immune to IROPS but has a strong ability to react faster.

Regarding the incident in question. Was porter LEGALLY responsible to provide for the passengers? NO Should they have provided for the passengers? IMHO YES. Those customers will not fly Porter again thus depriving them of a small percentage of revenue. As a result of the publicity of the event there will be others that will never fly Porter. Bad press has an effect here and the few thousand dollars to accomodate the stranded passengers could have a nore positive effect in the long run.

Customer service in this country has gone very far down hill and, frankly, I do not know why we stand for it. Customers ARE the revenue, you want them to come back. Sometimes that means taking a small hit for the long term gain.

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