Once agai n sitting on a air canada flight boarded waiting for maintenance records .why did you board us a hour ago and still sitting here

On Friday Oct 11, my wife and I flew on Air Canada flight AC-8746 from Charlotte to Toronto. We checked one suitcase and paid for it. We each also had a carry-on suitcase. We were told by the agent checking us in that the carry-on bags would be gate checked so if we wanted to, we could just check them in with her at no charge so we did that. No problems there.

The problem came on our return Air Canada flight from Toronto to Charlotte on Oct 15 on AC-8747. We again checked one suitcase and paid for it and we had the same 2 carry-on suitcases we used with no problems on our initial Air Canada flight to Toronto.

The gate agent said we needed to check and pay for our carry-on suitcases because they were too big. I responded that we had no problems 4 days earlier on our Air Canada flight with these carry-on suitcases so why should they be a problem now. He was very rude and disrespectful in how he was handling this situation and said he would prevent us from boarding our flight if we did not pay for these 2 carry-on bags. So we paid to check these 2 carry-on bags because we needed to get back home. I am 72 years old and have traveled extensively all of my adult life and have never been treated like this by any other airline. His behavior was unacceptable. It was elder abuse! He seemed to think because I was elderly, he could take advantage of me.

These carry-on suitcases are Travel Pro brand and less than 2 years old and we have used them to travel all over Europe on European airlines with no issues. Also, when we got to the gate to board the flight, many people were gate checking their bags and many were much bigger than our carry-on bags that we were required to check and pay for.

I contacted Air Canada customer service and reported this issue and requested a refund for the carry-on bag charge. Their responses did not address the issue at all. Instead they were canned responses full of cliches about providing good customer service. It's like they never even read my email.

I do NOT recommend anyone ever fly Air Canada given how little they care about their customers! Just chasing the almighty dollar!

They stranded myself and at least a dozen other people in Frankfurt when they changed the gate and time info at the last minute (I was early and had checked the reader board). We, as a group, got no help from anyone. Each "help desk" just passed us on to another help desk and told us we "might" be able to get a flight ticket for the next day, but there would probably be a surcharge. What?!

I was livid but I felt even more terrible for others in the group because some of them were trying to catch connections all the way to Dubai!

Thankfully, I speak passable German and I was just going to Klagenfurt (Austria) so I was able to use the trains to get to my destination. Still, this added 9 hours to my day and most of the trains were in the middle of the night. Riding the rails is decidedly creepy in the middle of the night, especially as a solo, female traveler.

In summation: This airline uses deceptive practices, provides little (to no) help and forces paying customers to fend for themselves when they can't be bothered to fix their own mistakes.

I have never left a review on this site before but I found the entire experience to be so frustrating that I felt the need to say something.

Thank you for the smooth trip from Rome to Toronto and vice versa. The flight was so calm I slept which I normally cannot in flights. I am usually anxious. The flight to Milan was equally pleasant, AC894 on Nov 6th. The pilots for both trips provided clear updates/instructions. Updates to say if there was turbulence (hardly any) and where to go in the airport once we landed. I was very impressed with the flights. We got home earlier than expected.
Going to Italy, we sat closer to the tail of the plane, row 41. Coming home we sat on the wings, just behind premium economy, row 21.
The smooth rides are what I value most. Thanks!

I recently travel home from Vancouver the aircraft was pretty much full for the trip the service on the plane was very ordinary we sat in row 18 just behind the premium economy if I paid the extra to sit in there I would not be happy I hardly saw a flight attendant the whole 15 hour trip in there also we weren’t even offer a cup of coffee with our breakfast said there was turbulence what a joke the seat belt sign wasn’t even on, flight attendants were unfriendly and the service was non existent would not recommend or fly air Canada again