Holiday Travel

[Vcool]

Who ever thought of this whole travelling over the holidays thing? Especially air travel?

I flew back to my parents the weekend before Christmas, and since it was on reward miles, I was given the wonderful privilege of having a layover in Toronto from 8 am to 4 pm after a 2 am flight. I got a hotel room for the day and took a nap. I thought that was bad.

The trip back to Edmonton today was way worse. Originally we were scheduled to go from Toronto to Edmonton direct after a layover in Toronto for NYE. That got unexpectedly changed to us changing planes in Calgary and having a one hour layover. Fine. Not what we booked, but thats fine, it got us home and was reasonable.

We got to the airport today, 2 hours before our noon flight, so we'd have some time in the lounge for some free sody pops. When we checked in we were given standby tickets, although we had already booked and confirmed our seats, they oversold the flight, and we were the lucky people that were left behind. Customer service spent an hour trying to figure out a way to get us to Edmonton, they could get us to Calgary for 2am, but no hopes of getting to Edmonton for another day or two. Same idea as routing through Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon, Regina, Fort McMurry, Seattle.

So what was left? Vancouver. We flew from Toronto to Vancouver to go to a city 2/3rds of the way between the two. We landed in Vancouver and found out that our connection was delayed another 2 hours. When we finally got to Edmonton tonight, guess what? All of our bags... missing. Airline has no idea where they are, but are confident they'll "pop up." So, end result? Spent over 15 hours travelling around the country to get home instead of the 3.5 hour direct flight, didn't get our bags, and when asked about compensation we were offered 100 in cash, or to contact their client relations department. They don't offer upgrades for inconvenience, although one flight had several empty executive seats, but we were offered the option of paying $1400 to upgrade, per person.

For those unfamiliar with Canadian geography, take a look at google maps to fully understand if required.

Focus: What are your holiday travel stories/nightmares?

[Hazza]

We were on a seven week UK/Europe trip with our son who was only ten months old at the time. All was good til we hit Berlin and our bags didn't. We had one nappy, the stroller and the clothes on our back. Stood outside the airport for two hours because the German taxis wouldn't take our son without a child seat. This had not been a problem until now. He had been sitting on our laps with the seat belt over us. Finally begged one driver who thankfully agreed to take us. Decided the next morning to take a half hour walk into central Berlin to get baby supplies and clothes. On the walk back to the hotel, the heavens opened. Luckily we had the cover for the pram so my boy stayed dry but my wife and I, plus all the new stuff we bought to wear, got drenched. Once again, the taxis wouldn't take us so we had to walk. The bags arrived later that evening. Loved Berlin eventually but that first 24 hours was horrible

[Vcool]

Oh I thought I had named them. We all know who they are anyways...

And I agree completely. Its not like the gate agent or the first line customer service person is responsible for the companies polices and activities, they just get to deal with the repercussions. I'll be working on it today anyways.

[Tarks]

I refuse to fly AC unless there are no other options, like when I fly to Havana. They are one of the worst airlines I have ever flown. And their customer service is horrid.