My complaint:
By: Donna Niewada
Treatment of Seniors at Calgary Airport
We were returning from our trip to Western Canada via Calgary Airport on July 29, 2022. Out of approximately 200 people flying, the agent at the Boarding kiosk, bee lined for my husband and me sitting and waiting for boarding call. Prior to that they kept announcing that the flight was full and there was no room for carry on luggage. Not too many people got up to give up their carry on because of what has been happening at the airports with lost luggage and chaos. Having flown to Europe with AirTransat June 23-July 6, 2022 for a Mediterranean cruise, they lost my husband’s luggage and we never got it back while in Europe. So when the agent came and asked us to give up our carry on, which they allow to have, I spoke up loud and clear that “sorry Madam but I’m not going to do that because your airline lost my luggage on June 23 and have not found it plus I have my meds in and what am I to do if I don’t get this luggage in Toronto” My husband tried to explain as well, but she walked away. Shortly after this she brought her boss to us who without listening to my story, told me to “shut up” and asked my husband for our Boarding Passes. He confiscated them and told us that where we would be sitting Row 16 there was no room for any carry on luggage, period. He also told us that I was confrontational and aggressive towards the agent and it will not be tolerated. I’m 67 and my husband is 69 and yes I do speak loud, but the Airport was very noisy so I wanted her to hear me. My husband decided to check our only 1 carry on. When he approached the kiosk, a new agent who was told to keep our Boarding Passes, started on my husband. Asked where I was to get me now. I approached with my small backpack and my husband had a backpack as well as personal items. The agent threatened that if I speak, because I asked if I could tell him my story, he will call security and remove us from our flight. He also demanded for us to check our personal items, that is our backpacks, no ifs or buts. We had no choice but to give up our personal items. I flew and was cold through my 3hrs 50 mins flight, I also suffer with severe ear pain, and I had my ear planes in my personal bag as well as my hoodie. We were shocked and so stressed. Never had I been treated like this in all the time I have been flying. Other people had duffle bags, that barely fitted under the seat, lots of room overhead because we saw when people were removing their belongings. We just prayed we would receive our bags, and yes we did. We also stayed and tried searching for our luggage from previous trip to no avail. Finally on Aug 3, 2022 we got our luggage delivered to our home after non-stop calls to Air Transat, we had the luggage dept on speed dial and once a week we could actually speak to an agent. Finally after 6 weeks we got our luggage from our first trip with AirTransat.
Suggested solution:
Out of 200 boarding customers we were singled out and basically forced to check in our only carry-on and 2 personal back-packs because our boarding passes were confiscated.
Do you think this is how your airline should be treating paying senior customers ??
