The reason why AC "sucks" is simply their employees. Recently updated AV system is fine, but flight attendants need to be let go. All of them. They are old, bitter and rude. Well who wouldn't be after working as a flight attendant for more than 5 years. When you look at Airlines like Emirates, notice that there is no one with gray hair or obese. Emirates flight attendants sign a contract for 3 years which can be extended upon review. And there is no union. Young women/men take the job as something of an adventure for a few years and then move on to a real job. And this is the strategy that AC should adopt as well if it wants to remain competitive:
1. Dismantle unions.
2. Force flight attendants to retire within 6 years.
3. Cap the age of flight attendants to 35 max.
This is what successful airlines do!
Instead, AC flight attendants form a union and constantly bitch about the working conditions ... and stick around until 70!!! Please tell me why would anybody stick around for 6+ years as a flight attendant? Get a real job you bums!!! Let the new generation of young women (or men) have their little adventure. Fresh young employees, full of optimism = GREAT SERVICE! Get it?

Jesse,
Just came across your blog for the first time, love this one on Air Canada! Can you imagine living in New Brunswick and the one and only airline that is available to you is 'Air Canada'. It's nothing short of horrid to the point that you just don't want to go anywhere, but then it gets so cold in the winter, you just have to break out! We use to have Canadian and Air Atlantic (which was fantastic) with a direct flight from Saint John to Boston, in the 90’s, one hour, awesome! $189 Return, use to go once a month (love Boston). Air Canada put on a huge seat sale and kept the price very low, undercutting Air Atlantic until they put them under. Then miraculously, can you believe it, they double the price, what a surprise! It that's not bad enough, let's add insult to injury with the fact that the only way we can now get state side is to fly through Halifax, Montreal or Toronto. Want to hit Florida for a few weeks, well first you have to fly 1200 north and pay through the nose and then after another 2 hours wait you start to head south! Friends call me from Toronto with, “Great sale on, $99 to Miami. Then I remind them that Air Canada will charge us between $650 and $1200 to first get to Toronto to then head south!!!! Not much of a deal.
Coming back from Las Vegas two weeks ago, my TV didn't work at all. Four and a half hours, good thing I had a great book. The stewardess solution was to not charge me for their cheep headset! I was about as impressed as I usually am with them.
The real experience for Canadians is going anywhere near the Toronto airport. All airport staff in Toronto airport are absolutely miserable and doing their best to make everyone as miserable as them! We try to avoid it like the plague going through Montreal in stead, much better.
For people heading south from the east we find it best to drive to Bangor Maine and get a direct flight. It's worth the 2 or 3 hour drive to avoid Air Canada. We hear they're going under and hoping the government let's them go. It really won't matter what airline takes it over, anything will be a tremendous improvement and they'll still have to hire Canadians but let hope some of the requirements are a personality and a smile!!!!!

Do you know how dumb you are? 90% of the people you see now with AC uniforms on are former CP employees. Their pension was so bad they all have to stay until age 70. Think of all the CP jobs that were saved by AC taking over their debt! AC has almost gone broke twice - the first time when CP was aquired with all it's debt and lately because of that same albatross. Do you not get it that the employees of the original AC have suffered beyond compare? I am one of them! I left in 2002 because it was so tough to fly with the former CP in light of the animosity and fear of losing our jobs to safe another carrier. Ther is much more but I won't waste my time trying to convert an AC hater who has no clue what happened!

I fly a lot. Always Elite and some years Super elite. Mostly international. Often in Exec. AC are fine. Better than most. It seems to be a national passtime to dis AC. There are some airlines that are better (Singapore and JAL come to mind) but there are many more who are way worse (British, Qantas, Malaysia to name a few). Lighten up!

As a former employee of Air Canada, the above comments are not new to me. I had the pleasure of working as a flight attendant for two years following graduation. During this time I learnt so much, and I firmly believe that if all young people had the chance to experience this work environment the world would be a better place.
I agree that there are many flaws with the company, but there are many positive elements as well. Most people do not fly very often, but come to the plane prepared with many negative expectations, because it is Air Canada. From my personal experience many young flight attendants who started with positive attitudes and a strong willingness to help travellers soon lost their drive. I was proud to provide excellent customer service as well as emergency health care. Air Canada provides nearly twice the amount of safety training as Westjet, and puts safety at the top of their priority list. I agree that customer service is lacking in many of the old timers,(which Westjet does not have because it is a new company!) but most of my colleagues went above and beyond every single flight.
The most shocking thing for me is how frequently I hear friends complain about delayed or cancelled flights. If your flight is delayed or cancelled it is because of one reason 99% of the time, and that is safety. If you plan to fly through the air at 500km/hr in a metal tube I certainly would hope that you cared about weather (snow/lightning storms) and condition of the aircraft. Of all the times in your life to be 'better safe than sorry' air travel should be on that list.
A flight attendant can be your most important resource on a flight. We travel a lot and usually can offer excellent tips for your destination. While we don't have control over what food is served onboard, possible turbulence encountered en route, your luggage situation,(we ONLY pack carry-on,) or in flight movie selection, your temporary travel arrangement is our work environment and it should be no surprise that we all want it to be as pleasant as possible.

Air Canada is one of the world's lamest airlines. Period.

Many moons ago, I had the misfortune of flying from Narita to Vancouver on Air Canada. I was the second person in line waiting to get boarding passes. With my wife by my side I was told that there were no "2 seats together on the flight". I was the 2nd person in line! This was before you could pick seats over the internet. I raised a stink and they found the 2 seats together which was a physical impossibility only moments earlier. Since that day, I have been on the Air Can'tada shit list. I'm always called to the desk to "identify myself" and there are always problems when I check in. Lamentably, Air Canuckistan is the only airline I can take direct from Tokyo to Canada. Going to the US is a sham, joke, pain in the ass, beyond soul destroying.

Of course, the soon-to-go-blind-uber-intense-boner-inducing-60 year old chain smokingesque stewardesses throwing whatever slop in front of you that was some kind of sustenance were always so helpful. The non-stop useless French updates are totally retarded. I'm the only non-Asian on the plane and they insist with disturbing your sleep with informing you that "Mesdames et messieurs, il y a la Turbulence. blah blah blah hon hon hon." fuck off already. Not to mention the CBC "news".

Everytime I have to actually take that shit airline, I take the advice of the Ramones and get as heavily sedated as I can. Whether its beer, pot, asprin, morphine, whatever.

Before some douche puts down his donut to run to the defence of one of the idustrialised world's worst airlines, I have flown on almost ever major carrier there is. Cathay is one of the best. So is Singapore. JAL is good as is Emrates. Air Canada is up there with Mongolian Air and East China Air, where the seats fly forward during landing and Coke cans are used to cover holes on the wings.

Air Canada sucks balls and all their staff chew on the short n' curlys.

I went back to the west coast recently for some business and I flew there via WestJet and returned via Air Canada. What a total contrast. The WestJet staff were super friendly, really upbeat, and from a corporate culture approach really made an effort to make the overall experience enjoyable. I also really appreciated the live television and the lack of a business class to feel resentful towards. On the way back the Air Canada flight was once again a completely miserable experience. The staff were rude and pissy, and after an hour waiting on the tar mac we had to go back to the gate to double check the luggage was actually loaded. Add to this that the content on the En Route TV service was total rubbish, with lame ads you have to watch before any of it. I can confidently report that Air Canada still sucks. I may however continue to try them in the future to see if they improve and report back on this page.

Air Canada does suck and it will not get better. The culture of bitterness runs deep in the organization. Their training program purposely turns a nice attendant against customers, by portraying all customers as devils. Hence starting a downward spiral of a hate-hate relationship. Just try to ask any AC staff their name, I bet that you won't get it. No use waiting for restructuring of this terrible airline, just give your hard earned money to their closest competitor.

Try flying on any US carrier, and you will see that Air Canada is a far superior carrier. Air Canada always wins the best North American Carrier Award. You are perhaps not a frequent traveller nor travel with many different carriers ...

As for the airlines caring about us? Ha! The attitude of consumers who seem to think that airlines give two sh*ts about our complaints is laughable, at best.

Customer service is an illusion, just like it has been for the past two decades since deregulation.

Get this: you are JUST ANOTHER CONSUMER. Read twice for emphasis. You are replaceable, and really do not matter in the grand scheme of things.

The airlines you feel are competing for your business, are in reality so intertwined and connected that it really does not matter what airline you are loyal to, or what level of customer service you perceive to be acceptable.

Basically, the pacifying mechanisms used to dilute the passions and emotions of customers who have been “wronged” by the airlines are almost insulting to us as humans.

Stop feeling as if you are entitled to some humane treatment from a human representing a robotic corporation, who is not even being paid enough to fake God given emotions and other humanoid states. You are just a consumer.

You really, no disrespect intended, DO NOT MATTER. YOU ARE DISPOSABLE. Anyone who would have you think otherwise is practicing deception of the highest order.
Have a nice flight.

International flights are not so bad. But I have notice that the staff quality has gone form great to poor.
Their aeroplan program is a joke. For most places you need to book your flight a year in advance.

Air Canada is not caring much about all of that cause they are clearly monopolizing the business.
Expect to get worse.

I fly the Montreal to Toronto trip quite frequently, and the majority of staff on those trips are pleasant enough. I definitely find that their planes are becoming quite filthy, but mostly on their older pre-upgraded fleet. On a handful of my routes to Toronto we end up on the newly outfitted planes with all the bells and whistles.. but they might have cut that project a while back due to the ever increasing fuel costs.

Or perhaps the AC experience is only tolerable for short durations ;-)

I, too, remember Canadian. I had the privilege of flying Canadian Business Class once. Those really were the days. Read this article at the NY Times, I just about spat out my coffee when I got to the line about them serving crepes on the plane in days gone by: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/travel/14Airline.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I've never had a really bad experience with AC, actually, but then again, I don't fly a whole lot.