Does Air Canada Care? Sure, but help customers? Neah!

On Sunday, my youngest was on his way home from a trip to the UK, he's a minor and travelling alone on his first international vacation. He was flying Canada's airline...Air Canada. Unbeknownst to me, he'd missed his plane connection in Toronto. I was in Ottawa at the airport to pick him up, but his scheduled 5:00 plane arrived and....no sign of Con. I went to the 'customer service' desk to inquire as to whether he was on the 4:00 plane outta Toronto, and had I perchance missed him? Or was he on the next plane due into the Ottawa airport at 6:00? Simple requests I thought, and as a mom and guardian, my right to know.

The extremely helpful (not) attendant informed me that "they can't tell me who is on the plane" ! I said it's my son, he's a minor, and travelling alone. Blank eyes stared back, and then I was rewarded with a shrug, and "yeah, well too bad, but we can't even tell the police who's travelling on planes, it's all about privacy." Right! Well thanks Air Canada, I know I can trust and rely on you to keep me informed.

He did turn up on the next flight, he'd been delayed due to long lines in customs. Would it have hurt Air Canada to let a mom know her son was ok, and on the way? Was I being unreasonable? Safety is safety, I'm all for it, and the same for privacy, but can they not understand or have a little consideration for a mother's concern. Wouldn't you want to have an answer. You bet you would!

It all worked out fine for us, but here I am blogging about Air Canada, and their spectacular lack of caring or customer service. Hey I was polite, I just wanted to know.

I would have called to make a complaint, but they don't have a customer service complaints phone number...go figure. You can always send a fax though....Let's fly together. You and me and Air Canada. You can travel and rest assured that no one else will ever find out if you're on the plane, or lost in an airport.

Note: Con had a cellphone for emergencies, but that had to be packed in his luggage due to terrorist activities...see early note about getting nekkid.