A Newfoundland family found themselves waiting to have the funeral of family member Dennis Hamilton; he was bumped off his connection in Montreal because Air Canada felt room for luggage was more important than delivering Hamilton's remains on time.
And last week Air Canada announced that if you want to have service when your flight is canceled or delayed, or your luggage has gone astray; well, by forking over an extra 25 to 35 bucks, they'll do it for you. Isn't that nice of them?
The Hamilton family is looking for some answers, but they better not hold their breath waiting for an apology; now the so-called "national airlines" can squirrel out of it, "shoulda paid the premiuim, tsk, tsk.
But let's not be too quick to blame Air Canada; it seems to me that everyone in country is playing that game, especially our governments.
We pay taxes, and then when we call to get some 'service' we get charged a user fee.
Maybe the taxpayers should charge the government a fee for using our money. And maybe we should choose an airline that tries to do their best to give service without having their hand in your pocket.
Then we could strip the 'national carrier' designation from Air Canada and give it to them.
At the same time, if Air Canada insists upon acting like a third-world carrier, it should change its name to Air Canuck.