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There are a couple of airlines I adore—WestJet and Porter. So, if I experience bad customer service from either one of these airlines, not only is it frustrating, it's disappointing. There is no excuse on the planet for bad customer service. It should be part of the company's corporate culture on how they deal with their customers. For the record, WestJet continues to exceed my expectations by doing things like this for their customers. I can't help but be a brand ambassador. I sing their praises and choose to spend my money with them.
Porter Airlines is the little airline that could. It's small, chic and makes travel a pleasurable experience. When taking short hauls to Montreal or Ottawa, Porter is my first choice. Their lounge is spectacular (free Starbucks and WIFI, hello!) and the flight attendants in their retro uniforms are delightful. So, imagine my deep disappointment when I experienced surprisingly bad customer service on Mother's Day.
Here's what happened. By my agreeing to MC a fantastic Gala for Ottawa University (my old alma mater), I had to stay overnight in Ottawa, missing Mothers Day breakfast in bed. So, as you can imagine, I was really excited to get home to be with my family. Sadly, when I arrived at the airport, I was informed there was a mechanical problem with the plane and the flight was delayed.
Frustrating, but sh*t happens. I get it. I sat and waited. And waited. For two hours. Patiently. I missed lunch with the kids.
At the two-hour mark, I headed to the customer service desk to get some real answers. Basically, there weren't any. Those manning the check-in desk appeared to be in the dark, shrugging their shoulders when I asked what time my flight would leave. I was told all their planes were full for that day until the 9 pm flight, which I was welcome to take.
Hmm. So at this point I wasn't offered anything for this inconvenience. I did hear one service rep whisper to another, "Should we give them a lunch voucher?" Hmmm again. I've been waiting for 3 hours, you don't know when my plane is leaving and you might be able to give me a $12 voucher for my inconvenience? (No, I wasn't offered one.)
Then one of the customer service reps suggested I check out Air Canada or WestJet and buy a last minute FULL FARE flight with them and Porter would refund my ticket. Not a bad idea, however this meant I am out of pocket $150 plus I will need to pay $60 for a taxi to get back to my car which is parked at the Toronto Island Airport where Porter flies out of. At this point, I've now missed four more hours of my Mother's Day.
So, I asked if they would be covering the overage? The answer was no. I was told I could phone their main help line (while I'm in the Porter Lounge) to see if anyone could help me. After being on hold for 15 minutes I was told—sorry, it's not Porter's policy to cover the cost of the other ticket even if the delay is their fault. Instead they suggested I wait until 9pm where there would be space on their last flight. Grrrrrr.
So, here's my gripe. Planes break. I understand and actually empathize with the harried customer service reps who had to deal with irate passengers. But clearly there was no plan in place on how to handle this situation. The communication to passengers only happened once we were already frustrated and heading to the desk to DEMAND information.
This is what really irks me. There was only one plane load of 30 stranded, inconvenienced customers and a big opportunity to exceed our expectations. Instead, we were all angry and disappointed with how we were treated.
Long story short. I booked a full fare seat on an Air Canada. I did get home by 6:30 so I had a two-hour Mother's Day. And, I did receive a very apologetic email the following day from someone at Porter advising me that they've put $150 into my account to put toward future flights. Which was nice.
My suggestion to Porter is this: Make a better plan of action on how to deal with customers when you have extended flight delays. Next time, be accountable and proactive—pamper us when there's a problem on your end. It's the better way to fly.