A new reservation system at Air Canada is causing frustration for some customers trying to change flights, use rewards points or request bereavement fares.
Aaron Churchill, an interior designer in Edmonton, tried to change a flight he booked for Jan. 30 after learning his client in Columbus, Ohio needed to reschedule a job.
He entered his reservation number on Air Canada’s website but it wouldn’t allow him to reschedule online.
Churchill called the reservation line, as directed by Air Canada, and got a recorded message, over and over.
“I keep trying to call back and I keep trying to get a hold of someone and there’s absolutely no one to get a hold of,” Churchill told CBC News Monday. “I’ve tried to communicate with Air Canada at least 28 times and I can’t get through.”
“My frustration is — here you can book online, they will gladly take your money but then when you go to try to communicate with somebody at Air Canada they actually don’t allow you to talk to a human being.”
Churchill said he might have to drive to the airport to talk to a customer service agent in person.
In a statement to CBC News, Air Canada said the new reservation system that launched in mid-November is working as planned, for the most part.
“The new system, implemented after a two-year project involving 700,000 hours of development, is highly complex and, as with any IT project of this magnitude, a transition period is normal and issues do arise.”
The airline said the issues are mainly affecting customers trying to change existing bookings.
The customer service line plays a message in English and French recorded by the director for contact centres worldwide, who apologizes for the delays.
“Call volumes are significantly higher than normal. Due to current volumes, I apologize that we are not able to place you on hold at this time,” the message says.
The recording advises customers to contact Air Canada within 24 hours of their travel date if the request relates to an existing booking.
If their flight is more than 24 hours away, it asks customers to call back closer to that date.
Some accounts haven’t been transferred over to the new system, it says, but they’re “working as quickly as possible to restore full functionality to these accounts.”
Customers aren’t able to confirm same-day changes online.
“Until we complete our system roll-out, this functionality is temporarily unavailable through self-serve channels.”
The company admits the new system hasn’t been implemented completely, that it’s expected to be rolled out in full in the “new year.”
Aaron Churchill, middle, said he’s tried to contact Air Canada 28 times since he booked a flight on Dec. 12. (Aaron Churchill)
It’s little comfort to customers like Laurence Robinson looking for a bereavement ticket to Kingston, Jamaica, to attend his grandfather’s funeral in mid-January.
He tried to apply online and saw that customers are required to call when requesting a bereavement fare.
“There’s nobody to talk to. The machine just tells you options of how you can do things online — it says nothing about bereavement.”
Robinson said he was very close to his grandfather and that many family members are expected to attend the funeral.
“I mean, I have to go no matter what the cost is,” he said. “But I was just hoping the more I could reduce my expense on the flight, because we’re all contributing to the funeral, I could provide more to the funeral.”
Robinson sent the company an email and received a reply, saying “You can rest assured that an Air Canada representative will get back to you as soon as possible.”
In the message, the company said it may take up to three weeks for a response.
Robinson said he ended up buying a regular ticket but hopes to retroactively receive the bereavement discount.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
