Jetlag Sucks. So does Air Canada.

I have oodles of great memories from our trip to Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto. Very soon I’ll post some photos and try to share a bit of our experience with you. But for now, I need to complain about Air Canada– the worst and only international Canadian airline.

My story begins many years ago with a flight attendant calling me a bitch (I was 17 and I told her I had ordered a vegetarian meal… I wasn’t being cocky or rude as all the meat-eating passengers around me assured me afterwards… and Air Canada brushed me off when I complained.) It continues on through countless flights of vegetarian meals not being provided on the aircraft though they were requested at the time of booking and confirmed by counter agents at check-in. I’ve never managed to get a vegetarian meal out of Air Canada. NEVER. This journey was no different. They provided a jar of pureed meat for my almost two-year-old (how appropriate) but nothing for me. Jerks.

But my complaints about the airline that should rename itself Air National Disgrace go further. While checking in at Toronto’s Pearson airport, the check-in attendant informed me that as of September 4th Air Canada’s baggage allowance rules had changed. She told me that I was not going to be able to travel with the bags I had unless I paid excess luggage charges for three of them. She also told me that if I was lucky I’d get to pay the old rates of $150 per bag rather than the new rates of $225. She was unmoved when I protested that I’d booked my flights in May, that my outward journey was on August 12th and that this was my return.

The details:

Prior to Sept 4th, children under 2 were allowed one piece of carry-on luggage subject to the same rules as all other carry-on luggage, one piece of checked luggage to a maximum weight of 10kg (23lbs), one stroller, and one car seat. As of September 4th, children under two are allowed one piece of luggage total. That’s right folks– you now get to choose between a stroller and a carseat for your child while on vacation. You also have to balance the legal requirement that your child be in a car seat at your final destination with the desire to carry a diaper bag for him/her so that you can change, feed, clean, or provide beverages to your child in flight. Oh, and that all needs to be weighed against whether or not you want a small suitcase in which to carry trivialities like clothing, diapers, and entertainment for your baby or toddler. If you feel you might like to do more than one of these things, you get to pay $225 per item EACH WAY. So, $450 to take your car seat with you if you intend to both have a stroller and a safe mode of travel for your baby.As the less than delightful check-in attendant said, “Air Canada is just trying to make it hard for you to travel with a baby.”

I think that, although I hate their new rules and will boycott Air Canada as a result, they do have a right to change their rules if they want. What they DO NOT have the right to do is apply those changes to passengers who have booked travel and/or commenced travel before the changes were announced. Sheesh, I was in Canada already with my stroller, the Kidlet’s suitcase, and her car seat before these new rules were announced or in effect. I explained as much to the counter attendant who I dealt with. She agreed with me and unlike the check-in attendant, did not suggest that I should pay old rates as a concession. She was very friendly and agreeable. Unfortunately, she wasn’t terribly competant. She checked my bags to Munich rather than to Ankara. I was changing planes in Munich with all of a one hour layover– not enough time to pass through passport control, get my bags, go through customs, and check in again. She had already sent my luggage to the central luggage sorting area when I discovered her mistake. She did manage to correct it, but it took ages (an hour total to check in, in fact) and even once ‘fixed’, she couldn’t guarantee that the new luggage tags would make it to my bags, not that the bags would make it to Ankara.
Later at the airport I checked with a gate attendant about the status of my bags and what I could expect if I arrived in Ankara and my bags did not. I wanted to know how I would go about tracing them. She told me to “think positive” and that such a situation would likely not arise. I told her that it likely would, as Air Canada regularly loses my bags and she told me I needed to be less negative. She flatly refused to answer my question about getting the bags from Munich to Ankara should they not arrive with me. Great customer service, Air Canada.

The flight itself was incredibly turbulent and the plane was packed without a free seat. That meant travelling with the Kidlet on my lap, which is fine and is what I paid for. However, the Kidlet became unconsolable just minutes into our flight; she was clearly in pain for some reason. I was not able to walk with her or take her to the washroom because of the turbulence. She ended up having diarrhea and vomitting three times, all over herself and me, as well as crying for over an hour. Most of the passengers around me dealt with it by glaring at me and complaining loudly, as if it was my choice to have a sick and desperate baby. There were a few kind women near me, who were of great help in getting the Kidlet and me cleaned up once the turbulence ended and we were allowed out of our seats again. Obviously none of this was Air Canada’s fault, it simply added to a terrible flying experience.
What was Air Canada’s fault was the outrageously overheated plane we travelled in. Passengers all around me complained loudly through the flight about the heat. I had to wear my coat, as I’d packed spare clothes for the Kidlet but not for myself… I was sweltering. In Munich I bought myself a tshirt, but I had seven hours of intense heat to endure before that, whilst soaked in vomit and diarrhea.

It was a miserable flight. My flights with Air Canada are always miserable. I was utterly shocked when my luggage arrived in Ankara with me, but it’s arrival did not shake my resolve to never fly with Air Canada again. It’s a pity that WestJet doesn’t service more international locations yet, as they are a fabulous airline. Until they do, we’ve decided to start flying into the US and getting flights from there to Canada with Delta or United or some such airline. Air Canada will not see another dollar from us. Stupid, stinking airline. How I miss Wardair and Canadian.

ETA: My dear friend M from hedda dabbler was with me through the check-in ordeal. As I told her then, I think I would have lost it and broken down if she hadn’t been there helping me, chasing the Kidlet, and still looking after her own little guy at the same time. THANK YOU, M!!! (And thanks for hosting us too!!!)

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