Monday, 7 August 2017

Air Canada - you have to laugh!

Air Canada lost my case on an overnight flight from Canada on Friday. I filled in the appropriate form with Global Baggage Solutions at Gatwick on arrival and have been waiting since to hear what's happened. 

I tried Global Baggage Solutions several times today and eventually got someone who told me that "it can take up to a maximum of 48 hours to get a baggage location." When I told the lady that it had now been longer than forty-eight hours she replied "it can take longer than 48 hours." So there's no maximum of 48 hours? "No, 48 hours is the maximum."

I tried Air Canada direct by email and received this reply...

"Thank you for contacting us regarding your travels with Air Canada. We appreciate your feedback and you can rest assured that an Air Canada representative will get back to you within 30 business days. Thank you for your patience as you wait to hear from us.

Pleas note that this automated message confirmed that we have received your correspondence and there is no need to resubmit your information. We are on it!

Best Regards

Customer Relations
Air Canada"

Six weeks to respond to an email! Katrien Meire will be impressed. I hope she doesn't get any ideas.

9 comments:

  1. Dave, very pleased you and your family had a good visit over this way and sorry to read about what seems a totally absurd experience with Air Canada. Having flown with them on business and pleasure, at least 250 times over a great number of years, experiencing all the good and bad any airline can deliver, only once did they lose my luggage and it was delivered to our home the same day as the loss. I can't believe that automated message....it's ridiculous!

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  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OISGykO6Z7U

    Have you seen this.

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  3. Bob - I am sure, these things happen. Global Baggage Solutions give you a tracking number and website to check on progress. When you go to the site you have to select the areibal airport (Gatwick), which I did. It then gives you a drop-down menu to select the airline and Air Canada isn't an option! It really is a mess.

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  4. 8th August Update; Global Baggage Solutions have this morning asked me for details of the case, all of which were provided on Saturday in writing. I have also managed to find a World Tracer website which allows you to check status on your lost luggage using the reference GBS have given me. On checking they have got the wrong initials for me and mangled my address. I have tried Air Canada this morning but the only direct telephone number is a fax line and their e-Chat facility isn't working "due to technical difficulties." I called their main UK Reservations number but it sounds like an offshore call centre who can't go off script for Reservations. I have, at least, managed to find a claim form which I can submit on Thursday. No way to treat disappointed Customers.

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  5. 9th August 9pm - case delivered. No notification. Looks like it has been sitting at Gatwick since Saturday. Probably waiting for enough cases to load the lorry it came in.

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  6. Dave, well at least the bag arrived. I'm not sure about all the third party involvement in trying to locate a misplaced piece of luggage. You have the claim ticket attached to the boarding pass; isn't it just a matter of going to the Air Canada desk at Gatwick and saying "hey guys, I can't find my bag, here's my receipt, would you please locate my bag and send it along to my home address?" Things are just a tad too complicated these days.

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  7. Bob - when I have lost luggage before and it's been located, it has been delivered from the airport in a taxi, usually within hours of being located. Call me a cynic but when the bag arrived on Wednesday night it was delivered from a lorry, the driver of which looked like he was delivering his fiftieth case of the day! My suspicion is that Global Baggage Solutions at Gatwick may have located my case earlier this week and hung onto it until they had a large enough volume of cases to deliver in my area....

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  8. Bob - I should say that I will definitely return to Canada. We enjoyed Toronto and Niagara was amazing. Very impressed with the Niagara peninsula (Wineries and Niagara-on-the-Lake). Algonquin Provincial Park was absolutely stunning and it takes something for a Scotsman to be impressed by beautiful landscape! I knew the people would be great and they were.

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  9. Dave, we live in Hamilton (not named after the town in Scotland, but founded in the 1700's by a George Hamilton, who was definitely a Scot!) I'm sure you drove past our door on your way to Niagara. Whenever friends visit from the UK, we always make a couple of days of it down that way, first stopping by the Welland Canal to watch massive ocean going ships negotiating the locks connecting Lakes Ontario and Erie. Then it's on to the Falls to take in its majesty and hopefully ignore the tackiness of Clifton Hill, where all the tourist attractions are located, Afterwards, it's a drive down the very beautiful Niagara Parkway to historic Niagara-on-the-Lake, where we always like to stay at the wonderful Oban Inn & Spa, overlooking the oldest golf club in Canada. Dinner at Two Sisters Winery is the next stop and then, the next day, after a relaxing breakfast, it's a number of stops at various wineries on the way back to Hamilton to complete the circuit.
    Algonquin Provincial Park is indeed special, as are all the "cottage" areas of the hundreds of lakes spread over central Ontario. Whether it be Muskoka, Haliburton, The Kawarthas or the Bruce Peninsula, the scenery is fantastic and you must experience the sunsets to fully appreciate the beauty of this area.
    I'm so glad you enjoyed your trip and for sure, many thanks can be given to those hardy Scots of yore, who were largely responsible for originally developing what is now the province of Ontario.

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Go on, you know you want to....