Agita at Air Canada

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

We’re not happy, till you’re not happy – Air  Canada motto

I’m going to blow off some steam here.  I don’t like Air Canada – I don’t the management system or the ‘leaders’ who own it, who each day subject their customers and employees to entirely avoidable hell.

(I exclude the front line staff here, who are usually courteous, and helpful within their constraints.) 

I know Air Canada is not uniquely awful.  Colleagues assure me that United, American Airlines & others are just as bad.  (I’m sure you all have had hassles as bad or worse that the one I’m about to describe.)

A few years ago I boycotted Air Canada in favor of Delta, a carrier that has embraced customer service.  I have no regrets.

(A deep bow to Delta, Southwest, Alaskan and other carriers who put their customers first. Long may you run.)

Thing is, Delta and other excellent carriers do not have access to many Canadian routes – Air Canada having lobbied the Canadian government to limit competition.  (Entrepreneurialism, eh?)

Well, circumstances recently forced me, kicking & screaming, onto an Air Canada flight.  I was flying to Quebec City, the splendid capitol of 'la belle province'.

Two flights, both standard 'milk runs', repeated several times per day.  You'd think this is one route they could get right, no?

So what happened?

My outgoing flight was delayed more than two hours.  No explanation or apology. Moreover, there were hassles checking in, multiple queues and random last-minute changes.  But Air Canada was just getting going…

The return flight was delayed 10 hours – again with no explanation.  My fellow travellers were resigned.  "It's always like this," a young woman told me. "I hate them but I have no other option."

Then we boarded and sat on the tarmac for another 90 minutes, with no explanation.  Finally, Air Canada cancelled the flight.  For the record, the weather was fine – no snow, ice or major storms in the region.

By this time we were spitting out teeth like chiclets.  Then things got worse, as if Air Canada was saying, “You think that was bad? Well, watch this!” 

There was no agent on hand to help us rebook our flights, no hotel voucher or indeed any help at all.  Eighty beaten down passengers stranded in an isolated airport at 11:00 pm with no support at all.

My travel agent has followed up – no response from ‘Customer Service’.  Air Canada's customer feedback pages are a river of anger. How do AC's leaders react?  They ignore the feedback and lobby government to reduce competition.

Air travel used to about freedom.  Today it’s a series of indignities – queues, invasive searches, and suspicious questions. Then rogue carriers like AC take over and finish you off.

Why am I bothering to write this? Because villains should be outed.  You ought to know about Air Canada.  Avoid them as you would a rabid skunk.

As for me, it’ll be a long time before I allow wild horses to drag me on to another Air Canada flight.

Best regards,

Pascal

United Airlines & Air Canada – Lowest of the Low?

By Pascal Dennis

We’re not happy, till you’re not happy

Recently I broke a personal rule and booked a United Airlines trip. Smarting from UA fiascos, I did so with trepidation, after a three-year hiatus.

(Last year, for similar reasons, I’d also decided to boycott Air Canada, United’s ‘partner’.)

Anyhow, my family and I were going to beautiful Bend, Oregon, where we’d hike, swim, and celebrate a family birthday.

The result? A 12 hour delay going; 4 hour delay returning. United offered no explanation, of course, no apology, and no sense of responsibility.

Fine weather both ways, so no problem there. We were scuppered by mysterious ‘mechanical’ problems, which no doubt UA deep thinkers had never encountered before.

When I described our travails to Bend friends, they were unanimous.

“Oh, I hate United!”

“United is disgusting!”

“United executives are dogs!”

Needless to say, it’ll be years before I allow wild horses to drag me onto an UA plane.

But wait! Recently, Air Canada did one worse, stranding passengers in Manchester, England for two days.

That’s not a typo – two days… (read the story here)

An Air Canada spokesperson said, wait for it, “We’re sorry we let our passengers down…”

For episodes like these, satire is redundant, no? All one can do is avoid the perpetrators like a proverbial plague (after going up to the roof and howling…).

Don’t want to be misunderstood. The UA front line people we encountered were decent, sympathetic and did their best to help.

As ever, the problem lies in the system. UA (& Air Canada) leadership has apparently made a conscious decision to ignore customer service.

Their motto should be: “We’re not happy till you’re not happy!” (Tip of the hat to Jim Barnes.)

Thought you’d like to know so you can avoid United Airlines and Air Canada. Let us direct a chorus of howls, catcalls and raspberries their way.

And a deep bow to carriers who are committed to customer care.

Safe travels,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

More Adventures in Airline-Land

By Pascal Dennis

Last month I told you about a dreadful travel experience in the hands of Air Canada.

(A forty minute Toronto – Detroit flight took 8 hours. No explanation or apology from Air Canada – of course.)

Sadly, my travel agent had booked me on the same flight last week – and I endured another dreadful delay.

I’m shunning Air Canada where possible. But I’m pleased to say that their replacement, Delta Airlines, has been a nice surprise.

The last five Delta flights have departed & arrived on time. Delta staff have been helpful and courteous. At the end of each flight, they ask, “Please let us know how we’re doing and how we can improve.”

Five years ago Delta was the worst in customer service. But now it seems they’re fighting the good fight.

How Delta Uses Anticipatory Customer Service Technology To Make Flying Less Miserable

Delta Airlines And The Power Of Great Customer Service

Delta Sends Its 11,000 Agents to Charm School

Will Delta mess up from time to time? Of course.

But as long as they keep trying to get better, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.

And so, a loud RASPBERRY to Air Canada.

And a laurel leaf to Delta Airlines – well done, and please continue.

Best regards,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

Misadventures in Airline-Land – Lessons Learned

By Pascal Dennis

Gravity – not just a good idea, it’s the law.

Physicist’s bumper sticker

I was reminded of this droll saying last week as I endured another misadventure in airline-land. We’ve all been there.

This time, a forty-minute Air Canada flight to Detroit was delayed 5 hours, which meant we arrived at 1:45 am. As the fickle gods would have it, I had a 2 ½ hour drive ahead of me.

Result: I got 90 minutes of sleep before an important work week. Of course, Air Canada, the culprit this time, offered no explanation, compensation or apology. Standard practice in the industry, no?

(A fellow traveller said she’d had the same experience the previous week – and was never flying Air Canada again.)

Anyhow, I wanted to highlight how the fundamentals of Production Physics apply here. In particular, the Laws of Utilization and Variation.

Key points:

1. We buffer variation with some combination of lead time, capacity or inventory
2. When utilizations exceed 80%, cycle times explode.

What do these have to do with my misadventures?

Well, the airlines face lots of variation – weather and the like. How do airlines choose to buffer it? Do they build in over-capacity? Or do they buffer with the customer’s lead time?

The answer’s clear, no? Rather than add some extra capacity, Air Canada has chosen to buffer variation by putting its customers through excruciating delays, and possibly substantial risk.

Awful delays usually mean a key system resource is over-utilized – where it’s an airline system, or an Emergency Department.

Do Air Canada’s executives lose any sleep over this?

As ever, front line staff were helpful and courteous, even though they bore the brunt of executive mismanagement. Thanks to them for doing their best in a lousy system.

Production physics and the Laws of Variation and Utilization are the law. Airline executives continue to ignore them.

Like many of my fellow passengers, I’ll shun Air Canada whenever practical.

Stay safe,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio