You know, I think I might just have a crush on the Qatar Airways people. I now know what seat I will be picking when I do have to fly. It wasn't first class, but I had all the stretching room I could ask for and the bathroom was only four feet away :D
As usual, the air crew was awesome. A special shout out to Sheridan, as I saw her the most in my area. She is a very nice lady and took very good care of us all. I am always amazed that these ladies look as good at the end of the flight as they do at the beginning. I am sure they are tired and I am sure they can't wait to get home and put their feet up, but you would never know by looking. What is also interesting is listening to them switch languages so quickly. All of the staff speak English, but I've also heard Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, German, and French when the requirement was there. I have heard three or four languages come out of one person on the flight over, earlier in March. I don't know if being multilingual is a requirement of the job or if it's just a skill of specific attendants, but it's nice to be so accommodating. It's funny how riled up people get in North America over speaking French or Spanish, and then when you leave there and see how it is so not an issue in most other places. Anyway, in addition to English, I can also speak French, German, and Russian. I'm working on Spanish and I picked up some Arabic watching children's tv shows while I was in Qatar.
Now, Air Canada, you guys need to start doing some hugging or something. At the very least, hire extra coordinators because your staff don't seem to know what's going on. I got to Montreal early, knowing I would have about a three hour stop in the airport there. Now, before I go any further, let me say how nicely organized customs was, and the general staff at Pierre Trudeau - awesome and friendly. I now officially like going through there better than Pearson in Toronto. I was so happy to see a Tim Hortons....there is no good coffee in Qatar. They NEED Tim Hortons, they just don't know it.
My flight from Qatar landed early. They're always early, yay!!! I had to get my baggage and go through the whole process of checking in again, as if I was walking in off the street - I don't know why Air Canada won't do a carry through because everyone says that their carriers do. Anyway, in the course of getting a boarding pass for my flight home, the agent says "You will have to get your seat when you get there." What the hell? This flight was booked and paid for in January but I don't have a seat? And WHY is that? And my flight is delayed. Fine. I'm going to Timmy's, I need coffee to chase my Trans-Atlantic migraine away and since I've been without my beloved phone for three weeks, I am going to squirrel away in a corner and cuddle with it. There is a $5 bill on the floor right below an empty seat. Clearly some force in the Universe wants me to sit down and have a cup of coffee.
While I was enjoying my coffee, the flight home changed again. And again. I went to the gate I was now supposed to go to....no more flight. Back to the boards to see where/when/if it is. Over to the new gate. Flight is now leaving at 19:00....whatever....but it is not posted at this gate. I inquire of the agents there, but they are with another airline. I'm clearly not the first person who has asked them because the agent looks at me with that special look that says "If I had a nickel for everyone who is asking this...." and proceeds to let me know that no, she can not help, she's not with Air Canada and blah, blah, blah......
Oooookay.
While sitting down, a broadcast message is played regarding my flight: it is at Gate 7 (where I, and several others are) and is boarding at 17:30. It is already 17:10, Porter Air is at this gate boarding a flight to Toronto, there is no Air Canada person in sight, and the main schedule screens still say we leave at 19:00....two hours from now. And the flight is now to Winnipeg via Ottawa. But we're boarding in 20 minutes? Huh??? The Porter Air agents tell us to go to Gate 11, because we are mistaken. I sit back down, I am not budging from this spot. Nowhere on the boards or in announcements has Gate 11 been mentioned. I have flown Air Canada enough times to know that I am not wasting my time running all over the terminal because they are busy messing with things. Some of the passengers get up to leave. I tell the ones sitting beside me to stay put. I remember the 18 hour song and dance to go from Ottawa to Halifax once.
Oooookay.
You have to understand, most of us on this flight were just on a twelve hour extravaganza from Qatar. We're tired, cranky, we want to go home (most of us are headed to Winnipeg, a few are headed further) and we don't work in an airport for a living so forgive us all for asking "stupid" questions, but we are now thinking about being stranded in an airport nowhere near home. No one seems to know what is going on, the AC people at other counters are no help because they also don't know. The Porter ladies wrap up their boarding and go to wherever they go.
17:15....still no agent.
17:20....still a cow eating grass.
17.25......yay!!! An Air Canada agent shows up. Surely she will know what is going on because the announcements conflict with the board and no one can tell us for certain if we may be in the process of missing our flights.
She knows nothing. My French is not perfect, especially when the speaker is having some issues and is not happy, but I gathered enough listening to her contact someone from the desk phone, that she also did not know what was going on and was clearly flustered that several people jumped on the desk as soon as she stood behind it. What she did seem to know, a few minutes later, was that boarding was at 18:00. The flight crew was still not there yet. Another agent showed up, also not sure of the situation and said something about being pulled from her other counter at the last minute. Now, I do not do this for a living, but I AM in a client centred profession and I know enough to know that it is very unprofessional to be exhibiting confusion in front of clients. Even if you don't know what's going on, act like you do, or start to find out what is happening....but don't stand around in front of people talking about how confused you are. People are superstitious as it is when it comes to flying. This sort of thing gives them even more stress.
I wait for a calm in the storm before I politely ask about why a seat is missing from my boarding pass. They do not know, but what they do know (and what I know) is that I will be the last one on the plane because I have no seat.
Then comes the next zinger, which I knew was coming sooner or later: the flight is oversold, would someone without checked baggage please volunteer to step aside and take a later flight?
You've got to be kidding me. Don't even look at me because 1. My luggage is checked and 2. I have been on the move since 6am when I got in a taxi in South fucking Asia to fly to North America. Hell to the N-O, don't make those eyes at me. Thankfully, a businessman flying to Winnipeg and wanting to contact someone before he leaves Montreal steps up to the plate. Thank you, whoever you are. Bless your heart.
But that still doesn't change the fact that I still have to wait to the absolute last minute to get on that flight. I have been thinking happy thoughts the whole time and thankfully the Universe heard me because after being in this airport for 5 hours, not knowing what was happening, I got a seat just like the one I had on the QA flight to Montreal. So we're all happy little fliers on the plane.
Except the plane isn't going anywhere. Oh....wait now, it's moving. To another spot. Now we'll taxi out. Nope.....moving to another spot. And another. Ooooops....moving some more around the ol' parking lot. Then the captain's voice, "May I have your attention please...blah, blah, blah, blah.....right engine not working....mechanical crew attending to this, blah, blah, blah.....thank you for your patience.
0_o
Oh. My. God. I hate flying. I hate the taxi, I hate take off, I hate reaching cruising altitude, I hate seeing the world get smaller and smaller out the window, I hate seeing clouds below me, I hate descending, I hate landing, I hate the massive sinus headache that I get, that makes me want to throw up when I smell food, I hate everything about being in an airplane but I love to travel and see new places, so flying is a necessary evil.
This flight has been poorly scheduled, oversold, the staff at the airline have not been updated on all the delays it had coming in from Winnipeg (see why it's valuable to speak other languages, folks?.....and PS, why it is also rude to speak in another language in front of everyone, when the majority do not understand.) so clearly there are communication issues within Air Canada, the flight crew was late, boarding was late, and now we are having engine problems just before take off????? Did the plane have these problems in Winnipeg, too?
Oh my lordy be, get me the hell off this plane. If I can't leave, then you better get me good and hammered so that I don't feel anything when we drop out of the sky and go crashing to our fiery deaths because at this moment in time, I seriously question our safety.
Another PA announcement, saying that the ground crew was filing paperwork regarding the engine problems, and we would be leaving shortly.
Alcohol. Please. My imagination is producing a tornado in my head of all the bad things that might happen because of all the things that have happened so far. I'm not the only one, because I see lots of hands really gripping the arm rests of the chairs.
I am offered orange juice, water, and smoked almonds. Maybe if I bite each almond in half and chew them really slowly, I won't think about dropping out of the sky. Ooops, no, I saw the window and the plane is shaking....nope, chewing not helping. Must chew harder.
The flight from Montreal to Ottawa is 20 minutes. Reach altitude and descend. Yay....we lived through this!!! Now we have to do it all over again at this airport. Thankfully, exhaustion takes over and I sleep through most of this flight until our final descent. The flight itself was uneventful, thankfully.
And my baggage was intact so clearly the baggage handlers of Air Canada are not having their shit fit anymore. When I flew out on March 11th, they were pissy over being declared an essential service so because they couldn't strike, taking their nastiness out on peoples' luggage seemed like a really good way to gain public support for their case. Not one person on the Winnipeg to Montreal flight that I was on, escaped with good luggage. One man was literally carrying his suitcase in his arms like a baby in the Doha airport, because it was ripped to shreds. Mine had a gigantic hole in the bottom and I was missing things.
I am sure that the folks at Air Canada probably have a nice logical explanation for everything that drove us nuts concerning our flight home but I am not interested in hearing it. I know they don't care, because they are an over-subsidized govermental sacred cow, so it does not matter if they provide good service or not. BUT, I will join the ranks of Winnipeggers who cross the US border to fly out of Grand Forks if I can not find a carrier that is not Air Canada.
Now this could all be solved quite easily if Qatar Airways would fly out of Winnipeg because those are the only flights I've been on that don't make me freaked out about flying. :D
As usual, the air crew was awesome. A special shout out to Sheridan, as I saw her the most in my area. She is a very nice lady and took very good care of us all. I am always amazed that these ladies look as good at the end of the flight as they do at the beginning. I am sure they are tired and I am sure they can't wait to get home and put their feet up, but you would never know by looking. What is also interesting is listening to them switch languages so quickly. All of the staff speak English, but I've also heard Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Russian, German, and French when the requirement was there. I have heard three or four languages come out of one person on the flight over, earlier in March. I don't know if being multilingual is a requirement of the job or if it's just a skill of specific attendants, but it's nice to be so accommodating. It's funny how riled up people get in North America over speaking French or Spanish, and then when you leave there and see how it is so not an issue in most other places. Anyway, in addition to English, I can also speak French, German, and Russian. I'm working on Spanish and I picked up some Arabic watching children's tv shows while I was in Qatar.
Now, Air Canada, you guys need to start doing some hugging or something. At the very least, hire extra coordinators because your staff don't seem to know what's going on. I got to Montreal early, knowing I would have about a three hour stop in the airport there. Now, before I go any further, let me say how nicely organized customs was, and the general staff at Pierre Trudeau - awesome and friendly. I now officially like going through there better than Pearson in Toronto. I was so happy to see a Tim Hortons....there is no good coffee in Qatar. They NEED Tim Hortons, they just don't know it.
My flight from Qatar landed early. They're always early, yay!!! I had to get my baggage and go through the whole process of checking in again, as if I was walking in off the street - I don't know why Air Canada won't do a carry through because everyone says that their carriers do. Anyway, in the course of getting a boarding pass for my flight home, the agent says "You will have to get your seat when you get there." What the hell? This flight was booked and paid for in January but I don't have a seat? And WHY is that? And my flight is delayed. Fine. I'm going to Timmy's, I need coffee to chase my Trans-Atlantic migraine away and since I've been without my beloved phone for three weeks, I am going to squirrel away in a corner and cuddle with it. There is a $5 bill on the floor right below an empty seat. Clearly some force in the Universe wants me to sit down and have a cup of coffee.
While I was enjoying my coffee, the flight home changed again. And again. I went to the gate I was now supposed to go to....no more flight. Back to the boards to see where/when/if it is. Over to the new gate. Flight is now leaving at 19:00....whatever....but it is not posted at this gate. I inquire of the agents there, but they are with another airline. I'm clearly not the first person who has asked them because the agent looks at me with that special look that says "If I had a nickel for everyone who is asking this...." and proceeds to let me know that no, she can not help, she's not with Air Canada and blah, blah, blah......
Oooookay.
While sitting down, a broadcast message is played regarding my flight: it is at Gate 7 (where I, and several others are) and is boarding at 17:30. It is already 17:10, Porter Air is at this gate boarding a flight to Toronto, there is no Air Canada person in sight, and the main schedule screens still say we leave at 19:00....two hours from now. And the flight is now to Winnipeg via Ottawa. But we're boarding in 20 minutes? Huh??? The Porter Air agents tell us to go to Gate 11, because we are mistaken. I sit back down, I am not budging from this spot. Nowhere on the boards or in announcements has Gate 11 been mentioned. I have flown Air Canada enough times to know that I am not wasting my time running all over the terminal because they are busy messing with things. Some of the passengers get up to leave. I tell the ones sitting beside me to stay put. I remember the 18 hour song and dance to go from Ottawa to Halifax once.
Oooookay.
You have to understand, most of us on this flight were just on a twelve hour extravaganza from Qatar. We're tired, cranky, we want to go home (most of us are headed to Winnipeg, a few are headed further) and we don't work in an airport for a living so forgive us all for asking "stupid" questions, but we are now thinking about being stranded in an airport nowhere near home. No one seems to know what is going on, the AC people at other counters are no help because they also don't know. The Porter ladies wrap up their boarding and go to wherever they go.
17:15....still no agent.
17:20....still a cow eating grass.
17.25......yay!!! An Air Canada agent shows up. Surely she will know what is going on because the announcements conflict with the board and no one can tell us for certain if we may be in the process of missing our flights.
She knows nothing. My French is not perfect, especially when the speaker is having some issues and is not happy, but I gathered enough listening to her contact someone from the desk phone, that she also did not know what was going on and was clearly flustered that several people jumped on the desk as soon as she stood behind it. What she did seem to know, a few minutes later, was that boarding was at 18:00. The flight crew was still not there yet. Another agent showed up, also not sure of the situation and said something about being pulled from her other counter at the last minute. Now, I do not do this for a living, but I AM in a client centred profession and I know enough to know that it is very unprofessional to be exhibiting confusion in front of clients. Even if you don't know what's going on, act like you do, or start to find out what is happening....but don't stand around in front of people talking about how confused you are. People are superstitious as it is when it comes to flying. This sort of thing gives them even more stress.
I wait for a calm in the storm before I politely ask about why a seat is missing from my boarding pass. They do not know, but what they do know (and what I know) is that I will be the last one on the plane because I have no seat.
Then comes the next zinger, which I knew was coming sooner or later: the flight is oversold, would someone without checked baggage please volunteer to step aside and take a later flight?
You've got to be kidding me. Don't even look at me because 1. My luggage is checked and 2. I have been on the move since 6am when I got in a taxi in South fucking Asia to fly to North America. Hell to the N-O, don't make those eyes at me. Thankfully, a businessman flying to Winnipeg and wanting to contact someone before he leaves Montreal steps up to the plate. Thank you, whoever you are. Bless your heart.
But that still doesn't change the fact that I still have to wait to the absolute last minute to get on that flight. I have been thinking happy thoughts the whole time and thankfully the Universe heard me because after being in this airport for 5 hours, not knowing what was happening, I got a seat just like the one I had on the QA flight to Montreal. So we're all happy little fliers on the plane.
Except the plane isn't going anywhere. Oh....wait now, it's moving. To another spot. Now we'll taxi out. Nope.....moving to another spot. And another. Ooooops....moving some more around the ol' parking lot. Then the captain's voice, "May I have your attention please...blah, blah, blah, blah.....right engine not working....mechanical crew attending to this, blah, blah, blah.....thank you for your patience.
0_o
Oh. My. God. I hate flying. I hate the taxi, I hate take off, I hate reaching cruising altitude, I hate seeing the world get smaller and smaller out the window, I hate seeing clouds below me, I hate descending, I hate landing, I hate the massive sinus headache that I get, that makes me want to throw up when I smell food, I hate everything about being in an airplane but I love to travel and see new places, so flying is a necessary evil.
This flight has been poorly scheduled, oversold, the staff at the airline have not been updated on all the delays it had coming in from Winnipeg (see why it's valuable to speak other languages, folks?.....and PS, why it is also rude to speak in another language in front of everyone, when the majority do not understand.) so clearly there are communication issues within Air Canada, the flight crew was late, boarding was late, and now we are having engine problems just before take off????? Did the plane have these problems in Winnipeg, too?
Oh my lordy be, get me the hell off this plane. If I can't leave, then you better get me good and hammered so that I don't feel anything when we drop out of the sky and go crashing to our fiery deaths because at this moment in time, I seriously question our safety.
Another PA announcement, saying that the ground crew was filing paperwork regarding the engine problems, and we would be leaving shortly.
Alcohol. Please. My imagination is producing a tornado in my head of all the bad things that might happen because of all the things that have happened so far. I'm not the only one, because I see lots of hands really gripping the arm rests of the chairs.
I am offered orange juice, water, and smoked almonds. Maybe if I bite each almond in half and chew them really slowly, I won't think about dropping out of the sky. Ooops, no, I saw the window and the plane is shaking....nope, chewing not helping. Must chew harder.
The flight from Montreal to Ottawa is 20 minutes. Reach altitude and descend. Yay....we lived through this!!! Now we have to do it all over again at this airport. Thankfully, exhaustion takes over and I sleep through most of this flight until our final descent. The flight itself was uneventful, thankfully.
And my baggage was intact so clearly the baggage handlers of Air Canada are not having their shit fit anymore. When I flew out on March 11th, they were pissy over being declared an essential service so because they couldn't strike, taking their nastiness out on peoples' luggage seemed like a really good way to gain public support for their case. Not one person on the Winnipeg to Montreal flight that I was on, escaped with good luggage. One man was literally carrying his suitcase in his arms like a baby in the Doha airport, because it was ripped to shreds. Mine had a gigantic hole in the bottom and I was missing things.
I am sure that the folks at Air Canada probably have a nice logical explanation for everything that drove us nuts concerning our flight home but I am not interested in hearing it. I know they don't care, because they are an over-subsidized govermental sacred cow, so it does not matter if they provide good service or not. BUT, I will join the ranks of Winnipeggers who cross the US border to fly out of Grand Forks if I can not find a carrier that is not Air Canada.
Now this could all be solved quite easily if Qatar Airways would fly out of Winnipeg because those are the only flights I've been on that don't make me freaked out about flying. :D
