Me vs. Aeroplan, Part 2

fans, (or family)
i would love to report back today that Aeroplan has caught wind of my social bitching and are on their hands & knees asking me to accept them back into the travel rewards fold. i would also love to report that they have given me a free flight anywhere in the confines of continental North America as their way of saying 'sorry'.
sadly, i report that nothing has changed.
so, i continue on.

Chapter 2 - Houston, we have some pretzels
On the morning of January 8, my partner (so many meanings) and I arrived at YVR soon after 6am, to catch our 8am flight to IAH. Upon check-in with Star Alliance partner Continental, it was communicated to us that we were booked on the initial trip leg to Houston, however, were then alarmed to discover that we had not been properly booked on the Houston-Dallas leg of the trip. According to the counter rep, Aeroplan had not properly confirmed the final leg of our trip with Continental.

After 20 minutes of discussions at the desk, we were told the best that they could do is book us on that final leg as 'standby', but there was no guarantee that we would be able to get on this flight. In fact, we were told that all flights were showing fully booked until January 10!!!
Given our travel plans were for Dallas, not Houston, we were extremely concerned as to how we would be getting to Dallas, if at all.

The 'Situation' - critical for one loyal Cowgirl and her football team


Needing to proceed through security, it was decided our only option would be to call Aeroplan from the security check-in/gate to determine what could be done. At this point, I was now discussing our predicament with an Aeroplan rep named Anne. Anne was almost as surprised as we were, and could not really pinpoint the issue for us. In her words, this was a 'one in a million' situation, where the Aeroplan system seemed to have us booked properly, and yet, the Continental system did not.

After spending close to 45 minutes on my blackberry with Anne, the outcome was this: we were still not confirmed on the Dallas flight, however, she felt that there was a chance we could get on with our standby status.

Upon arrival in Houston, we immediately proceeded to the appropriate DAL gate, as there was a very small time window to make our connection. We confirmed our standby status with the IAH Continental rep, and waited patiently while others boarded the plane. Finally, with everyone else on board, we were told that indeed there was room for us on this flight and our journey continued to Dallas.

The Question - so what's the big dealiyo?


Overall, I am frustrated with the entire experience, and feel let down by the entire level of customer service (short of Anne). I can certainly understand that issues arise with online booking and errors sometimes cannot be avoided. However, I would advise that in the future, customer service policy takes into account these errors when users are forced to call the helpline to book travel. There is no question that any type of 'fees' should be waived from the outset.

What I'm still having trouble understanding is how affiliated companies such as Aeroplan/Air Canada/Continental cannot be on the same page in terms of booking flights for their members. I feel that this whole experience has tainted my years of loyalty and miles collection, for a reward that was far less than what I had expected. Ultimately, I would really appreciate to hear from someone at Aeroplan, to discuss these concerns further, and to perhaps look at ways to mend this extremely poorly handled situation.

***Note that the content of these 2 riveting Chapters was from a message I originally submitted via the online feedback form at aeroplan.com. Unfortunately, I must report that the level of customer service was super shit on the response to this. I received an email response to my submission that stated:

‘Thank you for your e-mail.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are currently unable to respond to your request electronically.’

2 weeks ago, I sent the contents of the email (& now Bloggy) to the Aeroplan offices in Vancouver.
As reported, I have heard nothing to date.
The trip ordeal is long gone, but my personal vendetta is far from over.....

TO BE CONTINUED....?

Me vs. Aeroplan, Part 1

so, it has come to this.
i gave them a chance to make amends. i reached out to them via 3 separate channels.
i have given them ample time to come back to me and explain themselves.
they have done nothing. not a call, not an email, not even a poke for fuck sake.
you would think that in these, the digital days, where social media is #sohotrightnow, a company wouldn't dare disappoint for fear of complete social persecution.
nothing....
unfortunately, Aeroplan hasn't packed their bags on the interweb express just yet.
they don't even have a god damn Facebook fan page!! i mean, who doesn't have one of these things....how can they expect to stay relevant..??
could it be that they already know they offer a substandard service and are limiting the avenues for the masses to shout them down...?

whatever it is, one thing is for sure - Aeroplan is now dead to me.
here's why...

Chapter 1 - Online Booking for Dummies

I booked 2 tickets from YVR-DAL (via Houston) using my Aeroplan reward miles that I had been collecting since the inception of my membership.
Translation - I've been saving these points since I was a little kid, you dicks.

What appeared to be a simple online booking resulted in an extremely poor user experience. The aeroplan.com interface allowed me to select flights, complete all required information fields & credit card data up to the point of confirmation, only to then serve me with a system error and the inability to complete my booking....
Verdict - Shitty programmers


After attempting to resolve this several times on my own, I finally decided to contact Aeroplan web support via phone. The issue, which appeared to stem from a tight connecting flight on the return leg of the trip, was resolved, albeit after 45 minutes of discussion and holding on the phone.
I was shocked to then learn that for my troubles, I was being asked to pay $30/ticket for the service resolution. This was entirely unacceptable to me and my dissatisfaction was voiced to my customer service rep. This resulted in the rep connecting with her manager, and I was told that the charges would be reversed.
Result - Score 1 for me, suck it customer service.

As it stood, my booking frustrations were somewhat lifted, as all travel plans appeared to be booked and I started looking forward to my the next day.
Sadly, this was not the end of my ordeal....

TO BE CONTINUED.....