Title: Air Canada doesn't give a damn. I'll fly WestJet By JEFFREY SIMPSON, The Gazette, June 10, 2006. Jean-Claude Parrot haswritten a book that's won an award from a Marxist group. No sensible person, however, would want to read Mr. Parrot's book. It would only remind us of his horrible years as head of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, when, in the 1970s and 1980s, he and his union predecessors made Canada Post the most hated cor- poration in the country. Lots of people still gripe about Canada Post, but its improvement has been quite remarkable. So which is now Canada's most hated corporation? Opinions will obviously vary, but here's a resolute vote for Air Can- ada. Anyone else agree? Or is any com- pany worse? Air Canada talks about deepening "cus- tomer loyalty," yet works hard at alienat- ing customers. The company deals with too many "customers" like pieces of bag- gage or "bums in seats" stripped of any humanity. Why are Air Canada employees not more helpful? They're not bad people. Some of them are very nice. But you get the distinct impression that they've been beaten into a sullen submis- sion by the salary cuts and job 'losses. They see the senior executives - CEO Robert Milton and president Montie Brewer- sitting on huge stock option gains, while the employees get nothing. The old Canada Post's problems were union-driven, Air Canada's come from the very top. How would you keep smiling while tell- ing customers who want a pillow on a do- mestic flight that there are none? Same for blankets. On overseas flights, a plastic pillow and blanket cost $2. How would you feel hawking hideous sandwiches on domestic flights for $5 be- cause there's no food any more, even fly- ing from Halifax to Vancouver? How would you feel having to deal with so many cranky passengers angered at flight delays, some from mechanical break- downs caused in part by an aging fleet? The employees have been pulverized. They don't feel very good about their company. They're earning less. They've got so many rules and regulations to fol- low, and they've been stripped of so much discretion in the drive for profits, and so much is out of their hands, that even if they'd like to help, they often cari t. It's not their fault. Attitudes start at the top. Lose your baggage. Try phoning the lo- cal Air Canada office at the airport. Or drive to the airport to enquire about the luggage. The baggage people will be very nice and quite unhelpful. Not because they want to be unhelpful, but because Air Canada has outsourced all baggage in- quiries to India. Try phoning the 1-888 number. The Indians sitting in front of a computer screen will render you all as- sistance short of help. Got a complaint? Try phoning the 1-866 number or sending an e-mail or writing a letter. You might just as well contact the Chinese Politburo. When Canada Post was the most hated company, you could be sure to start a conversation with perfect strangers by asking, "So, how's the postal service here?" That discourse has now been replaced by discussions of the "Air Canada mo- ment," shorthand for delayed flights, poor service, a disrupted day. To make things worse, Air Canada almost never apologizes, makes restitution, or evinces any sympathy. As in, you try to make a ticket change on line. After 10 tries, with a message say- ing there are technical problems, you phone for help. But it will cost you $20 these days to do anything with a breath- ing Air Canada employee on the phone - another Milton/Brewer invention. You don't want to pay because the on- line service isrit working. Tough. Phone the technical help desk. Wait and wait to get through, then spend another 10 minutes before they give up and transfer you back to the real person. Ten more minutes and the changes are made. Total elapsed time: 30 minutes. But then your time is less valuable than Air Canada's, apparently. As in, you go to the airport, as required, 60 minutes before a connector flight for one going overseas. You find the depart- ure time has been advanced by 15 min- utes without anyone telling you. No sweat, there's still 45 minutes. Ex- cept the line isn't moving. You wait pa- tiently 10 minutes arid inquire why. Com- puters are down. You go to another coun- ter, having now not budged for 15 minutes, only to be told the flight has closed. Just call the gate, the Air Canada repre- sentative is asked. There's plenty of time. Can't, she re- plies. Rules. Her supervisor, a man who has seen it all and couldrit care less about your fate, takes over. Will he help? No, Air Canada doesn't own the com- puters. The airport does. Therefore, Air Canada is not responsi- ble. He can book you tomorrow. You try to understand: Air Canada doesn't own the computers, farms out baggage to India, takes away food, screws up a lot of flights, doesn't apologize, in the previous three weeks has cancelled two flights and re-routed you on another so that you arrive almost four hours late - yet says it wants "customer loyalty." Air Canada fundamentally only cares about the country's largest cities. The rest don't count. Ask about Air Canada in Sas- katchewan, Manitoba, Yukon or any of the Atlantic provinces. Air Canada uses a plane on the Halifax- Sydney route that the Canadian Interna- tional Development Agency wouldn't lease to an impoverished African country. It's about to change its Halifax-St. Johns- London flight so that Newfoundlanders will have to fly backward to Halifax before crossing the ocean. That will do wonders for the airline's popularity on the Rock, but what choice do people there have? Complain? Forget about it. The Milton/ Brewer airline doesn't give a damn, except for the bottom line. Air Canada has such a dominant position in so many parts of Canada that it doesn't care. Open skies -bring'em on. WestJet, you've got a new customer. Any other takers? jsimpson@globeandmail.com