Report Abuse

Report this review to the Review Centre Team

Here at Review Centre we work hard to make sure we are the best place on the internet for honest, unbiased consumer reviews - we are grateful for your help in keeping us that way!

712787

Why are you reporting this review?

If you represent this business why not claim your page by creating a Free Business Account where you will receive improved review monitoring functionality.


★☆☆☆☆

“My family ( 5 of us in total) booked our holidays to...”

written by aidrow on 08/09/2010

My family ( 5 of us in total) booked our holidays to Belfast United Kingdom with Canadian Affair in May 2010. We left Edmonton International July 6th, 2010, flew directly to London Gatwick. We were scheduled to return from Belfast, again connecting thru London Gatwick, to Edmonton International August 10th, 2010. On the way to Belfast we had a 6 hour layover in London Gatwick and I noticed that we only had an hour and a half layover coming home. I was concerned with the limited time allotted for the return connection in London & inquired about changing the flight. I was told that we would have to wait to make the changes in Belfast.

While in Belfast, we went to speak with a representative of Thomas Cook (as this is who we were flying with) and voiced our concerns. The associate advised us that an hour and a half would in fact be tight, but seeing as the terminal was the same, it should be sufficient. We were also advised that we were already on the earliest available flight from Belfast to London Gatwick.

We landed in London Gatwick and proceeded to pick up our luggage. We sent my mother- in- law ahead to start checking us in for our connecting flight to Edmonton, to insure no time was wasted. To our surprise, my mother- in- law returned to us within a few minutes saying we missed our flight. I looked at my watch and we still had 55 minutes before the plane left. Surely my mother- in-law had had ample time to start the check-in process? However, when she arrived there the representative behind the counter said she wouldn't begin the check-in because she didn't know how long the rest of us would be. Honestly, we couldn't be far behind if my mother in law was standing there in front of her.

Once we had obtained our luggage(less than 5 minutes later), we all approached the Canadian Affair counter and there was no one to be found. We then asked Thomas Cook if they could help us (as their counter is right beside Canadian Affair). One of the girls at Thomas cook said that we should actually be dealing with Canadian Affair as that who we booked with, however she asked one of her colleagues to call ahead and see if the seats were still there for 4 adults and a baby. Then all of a sudden the Canadian Affair associate was found and she then asked how she could help.

I told her who we were and that we needed help checking in quickly, as we were scheduled on the flight to Edmonton. She asked if I was with the Irish people. I said "yes, that's us". And she looked at me and said that the flight was gone. I went over all the details with her, as I mentioned above. She told me that she closes the check in one hour before the flight leaves and this would have been stated on my itinerary. I had the itinerary with me and she was unable to show me where it showed a check in time or anything of the sort. She said it must have been on a page that I didn't have with me.

I asked her if we could not argue about details at this moment, but concentrate on getting us home. She said, well if the connecting flight had been late she could rebook us with the insurance, but since this had not been the case she would not do that. I am at this point in complete disbelief, because I have NEVER been treated like this by an airline. My family and myself are frequent travelers, domestically & internationally and have missed flights before and NEVER have any of us been told, "Sorry, It's not my problem." Yet this is the response the Canadian Affair rep told us this many times.

My father in law asked her, "So you are just going to strand us here?" She repeated to us that this was none of her concern. My husband even asked her, "so you aren't going to even TRY to help us?" Her answer was "No there is nothing I can do."

My personal belief is that there is something she could have done to help. Especially since, as noted above, the Thomas Cook employees were at least calling ahead to see what could be done. The Canadian Affair rep didn't even pick up a phone. Was she prejudiced? Was she having a bad day? Was it her first day on the job? I don't know the answer to these questions. What I do know is there were times that I have flown with Air Canada or United Airlines and have missed a flight, sometimes it's even my fault(once I slept in). However the people behind the desk are ALWAYS very HELPFUL and treated me as a customer should be treated, helping me continue on my journey, one way or another. The staff (so I thought) was there to help me get through my journey safe and respectfully.

Finally I realized that we had been arguing and pleading with her for 20 minutes now and that there was no help being given and we were now stranded in another country with my 16 month old son. I only brought enough food with me for the journey (as I didn't want to slow us down going through security) and here we sat.

We talked with another travel agent at London Gatwick Airport who found 4 available seats on an Air Canada flight for later that afternoon from London Heathrow. These tickets were at a price of 1024.00 sterling pounds each. Approximately $2000.00 Canadian funds each, one way, to get home from another airport. What other choice were we given really? None. The cab from London Gatwick to London Heathrow $240.00. Everything almost felt like a conspiracy to us. Still in disbelief that we even had to go through this at all.

I have to say that the people at Air Canada were (as always) accommodating and helpful. We were able to get on a plane and arrive home only 8 hours later than we should have. After having spent a lot of needless money to get home, not including the money we already paid for the return flight home on Thomas Cook through Canadian Affair, which we were advised we would not be getting back.

My family and I couldn't afford a financial hit like this, we had to make alternate arrangements to get home after a 5 week holiday. Luckily, we had support lines to assist us in this predicament. I find it so hard to believe that a company such as Canadian Affair would leave a family stranded, not even try a little bit to help out. It leaves me to ask, is this representative of the customer service that everyone should come to expect from Canadian Affair?

I have since emailed Canadian Affair who are now stating that after an investigation that we were 20 minutes late for check in (not true) and that they will not refund any of our money as it was our fault we were late for check in.

Was this review helpful? 0 0