| rev:text
| - Flying Porter isn't what it used to be....
There was a time that flying Porter meant a better travel experience for a less than the big guys charge. At the time, it was worth the obvious shortcomings of flying a small turbo-prop aircraft from an airport notoriously susceptible to wind, fog, rain or other flight cancelling events. I used to travel Porter regularly between YOW and YTZ. But not any more. (at least not on Porter)
I think the first sign of Porter's decline was evidenced by a trip I took on Canada Day two years ago. Running late for my scheduled flight, I emerged from a meeting and called Porter customer service as I had done a few times over the previous couple of years to move my flight forward an hour. Up to that point, they were always willing to accomodate this request at no charge, (even with a "firm" ticket) if there was enough open space on the plane. When I had done so in the past, they would go as far as to comment that "this was one of the ways they set themselves apart from Air Canada" - and they were right, it did. This time however, they refused and charged me more than the cost of the original flight segment price (approx. $200) to move to the later flight. Thinking that this was because my request had come at a time where the next flight was substantially full, I accepted the cost and proceeded to the airport. Upon boarding the plane, I'd be surprised if it was 20% full. Shocked, upon landing I wrote customer service (you see, they won't actually take a call from you if it is about past travel I learned) and politely enquired about the mistake that had been made. About a month (yes, a month!!) later, I received a non-response letter from someone in their customer care department listing the fare rules. Obviously we are all aware of the fare rules, so a reminded him my letter was with respect to a change in practice, not in the printed rules. He responded with a dismissive letter explaining the economics of pricing in the airline industry and how they make money. Trust me, I know how they make money - it comes from their customers. Please keep in mind that the turnaround time for even an acknowledgement from these folks is 3 weeks (at a minimum). I escalated the matter to the CEO's office and, despite being repeatedly promised a response from the executive office by his assistant Deborah, it never came. Weeks turned into months. Only after several emails did I get a form letter that she had "forgotten to send me" emailed to me, unsigned, promising me a free trip. (which I hadn't asked for nor expected). Tack on another month and a couple more emails from me to hold them to their promise, and the free flight code was sent to me (albeit, reluctantly I would imagine) The whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. I clearly meant absolutely nothing to them. All they had to say was "We're sorry, but passenger volume has led to a discontinuation of the practice", rather than demeaning letters, non-responsive executives, and a trivial attempt to buy my silence. About a week later, I forwarded Deborah a copy of my first 10 ride rapidair YYZ-YOW flight pass from Air Canada in an attempt to show them what their poor business practices were costing them, but to this day, no response. I'm not surprised, and truth be told - I'm really not even certain they understand it.
Fast forward to two months ago. I was forced to take Porter due a client requirement, only to find the fares are actually higher than Air Canada and WestJet (not just on that day, but as a matter of practice). That $120 return trip cab ride fare you once saved by not having to head to Pearson is now eaten up by Porter's significantly higher fares. The airport lounge is larger now, but the "free" food and drinks are much more limited. The loyalty program with Porter is laughable - you get a one way ticket for every 10 return trips you book, depending on your original fare class. You still have to pay the taxes and airport fees, so the net savings is nominal. I joined the Air Canada Altitude program and now get free access to their Air Canada lounges, with big screen TV's, dinner, salads, beer, wine, spirits, business lounge, internet, showers, use of ipads, flight upgrades and more for the same price as Porter's fare which had none of the above. While I'm not a particular fan of Air Canada, they offer far more than Porter does for the price. Westjet offers excellent service, much more liberal rebooking, though no lounges to speak of.
Quite honestly, I can see no compelling reason to ever fly with Porter again. Perhaps this is simply an enevitability that comes with growth in its initial stages. Perhaps Porter needs to grow (up) a little more to remember its customers again and what made them (past tense) great. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)