If I buy a Canon camera I want it to work. I frankly do not care that the production line worker has a personal life, is mistreated by management, is tired, has worked four shifts. All I care about as the customer is hat I get a fair deal for my money. Airline employees are not entitled to special privileges: you are there for the customer, not the other way around.

I fly to China next week, from Toronto. 20 hours. Hope the seats all work, and hope I get a modern pod seat aircraft. Not holding my breath!

I am not an airline employee. However your comments of Feb 2.2008 cover all of Air Canada’s flight attendants and desk clerks.

It is unlikely that you met all of them and arrived at this conclusion.

I am an independent sales person and travelled on airlines for the last 38 years and never did a flight attendant on any airline, called me a name or did not make the effort to help when asked.

I did not get help instantly but help did arrive. As far as the Air Canada customer service (Customer Solutions), I do agree with you as you can see from my comments.

Most of us, in sales would not dream of treating / ignoring a customer the way Air Canada does, it is just poor management.

It is next to imposible to be called a F… A… without some input from your side.

Many people have no manners and do not respect or value the work of the next person.
It is very common these days.
Manners have nothing to do with education or diplomas. Manners and respect used to be thought at home, from grandparents and parents.
People would smile and say: Hello, Good Morning or How are you when they meet or enter a place.

Now many people walk into a place with bad attitude,or a preconceived notion, treating the next person with dissrespect and expecting respect and good attitude.

It does not work that way.
Next time you walk in a plane, walk in with a smile and say hellow, how are you.
If you need anything during the flight use please as part of the sentence, not because the person that will help you has 3 diplomas or speaks 5 languages.
Do it, because they are a person just like you with needs, wants, family and a job and deserve just is much respect.
The front line personnel is not responsible for the state of the airline.
On January I returned from Munich ( Air Canada Bussiness Class ) on a broken seat, 2 rows down one other Bussiness Class seat was taped closed with duck tape and 3 rows up the foot rest did not go down.

The flight crew was as helpful and apologetic as they could be, it was not their fault but they tried.

Most of the Flight Attendants on international routes have many years of experience, they have seen and felt the deterioration of the airline industry over the last 25 years.

Even this condition is created by the traveling public.

In 1980 most people could buy a nice house for $ 85000.00, have an income of $ 40000 to $ 50000.00 and the price for an international flight was about the same as it is now, when that same house that people purchased in 1980 would sell now for $ 600000 to $ 700000.00 and their income is $ 70000.00 and more.

The Air Canada management ( directed by an American ) is competing with the no frills, minimum service offered by the North American airlines.
I see no reason for them not to want to mantain the aircraft cabin, that is just bad managment and extra presure on the front line staff.

Also I see no reason to blame the Air Canada flight crews for this, they do their best with what they are given.

As far as for my inconvieneance for traveling on a broken seat;
I was given a voucher by the Flight Director and told that I would receive some form of compensation in 30 days.
It is past 38 days and I sent a fax to Air Canada Customer Solutions ( no phone number is available ) and received an automatic fax reply that somewone would respond in the next 15 to 20 days.

We are all to blame for this situation, we destroyed most for our manufacturing sector, shop in magastores for goods manufactured in China, Taiwan and India and complain about unionized labor, even though it is the only reason we have a better standard of living.

Hopefully we will wakeup before is to late.

Now back to your comments:
Give respect, get respect, it is the only way.

1. It seems that there is no real management. No one seems to think ahead and or consider how inevitable flight cancellations and delays will affect customers. If they did, they could make arrangements to ease the distress. Instead NOTHING is planned, NO consideration is given to passenger comfort. Even a place to sit and a drink of water would be humane. If staff were informed of the situation and prepared it would go a long way to reduce tension and distress.

2. There isn’t ANYONE (real person) who a passenger can actually speak to when things go wrong!

I wrote to Robert Milton and never even had the satisfaction of believing that anyone understood the real issues I was raising. Instead I heard excuses about cancellations being in passengers best interests (safety). I felt patronized while my concerns weren’t even acknowledged.

I understand air travel often involves delays and unforseen problems. If I wanted no trouble I would stay at home. I do expect however, to be treated with consideration. I also know that I can make a choice when I purchase my next ticket. Based on my experiences, Air Canada will rank only slightly above crawling on hands and knees!

“I would love to enter you business offices walk in like I own the place demanding thing from your employees complaining about everything your company stands for and see the reactions.

I would say that in this day age if you arrive safely and alive to your destionation then Air Canada has done an excellent job.”

There adamant that their job is to provide “nothing else” in terms of service.

AL

Since I am a Service Director all complaints come to me. Personally I am tired of people whining about things that are out of our control. The 9 out 10 aircraft changes is not true and if this happens its because a plane is stuck somewhere else or there is a mechanical problem. People don’t realise that we have a personal life too. Many a time I have been stuck and not been able to return home due to delay or have plans with my family that don’t happen because of delays. We have the same emotions as you and lives outside the airline.

As for the unions you are saddly mistaken. Our unions are pretty well powerless to management. We can work 16 hours a day (please remember that when you see a flight attendant maybe a little worn down on the 5th flight of the day with an hour between each flight and quit often no time to eat. People don’t realise that we are paid only when the engine is turned on. I have been delayed up to 4 hours and we don’t get paid for that I am starting to vent which I never do on a flight. I always have people tell me it was great flight.

I am tired of people bashing my job that with many faults I still love. I would love to enter you business offices walk in like I own the place demanding thing from your employees complaining about everything your company stands for and see the reactions.

I would say that in this day age if you arrive safely and alive to your destionation then Air Canada has done an excellent job.

And for the person who loves BA and others take a close look when you travel on a widebody aircaraft. They can have 16 to 18 flight attendant while many flight we have 8. We can not supply the quality of service with the cutback on employee.

In closing I wish that people would slow down, relax more and just treat people with the same respect that they expect to receive.

I really feel that many of Air Canada’s flight attendants are, to put it bluntly, too old. They are grouchy and seem to resent their customers. My Dad was in the R.C.M.P. for over 30 years…near the end of his career he started getting grumpy because he couldn’t handle the night shifts anymore. If you get to this point, it’s time to retire.