Before we begin, can everyone please come to terms with this portion of the English language: “Literally” does not mean “figuratively.” If you use the word “literally,” whatever you’re referring to really happened, really exists, was actually said or done, etc. For example, if I say there is literally a huge pile of garbage involving Air Canada’s service in this story, it doesn’t mean I’m comparing Air Canada to garbage via metaphor. The jury is out on that allusion.
I’m saying that this is a consumer care story built around a heaping pile of trash on display at a major metropolitan airport — and Air Canada should take a hit for it. Literally.
Also: Travel: You Fly the Miles, But You Lose the Status
Here’s the story. This reporter was flying from London to Virginia, one travel story running me to another. However, I would stop off in Milwaukee to cover a beer and cuisine story en route. My Air Canada flight to MKE made connections in Toronto. Since my London Heathrow departure was delayed by more than half an hour, I got into Toronto less than 60 minutes before my connecting flight to MKE.
While I did make that flight to Milwaukee, my two checked bags did not make a successful transfer while on the ground in Toronto. Yes, the airline technically had enough time to make the transfer, but these mixups happen. While inconvenient, I understood such instances occur when flights are delayed and land close to connection times at a major airport. We can give Air Canada a pass there.
However, upon my arrival at MKE and the discovery that my bags were not on my flight, I had to deal with locating the bags in Air Canada’s tracking system and making arrangements for a later delivery. This is where Air Canada’s infrastructure needed to come into play.
At Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee (a metropolitan area of 1 million+ people), there is Air Canada service, but no Air Canada baggage desk. Instead, Air Canada partners with Frontier Airlines. It’s beyond this travel writing veteran why they wouldn’t use their Star Alliance partner United Airline’s abundant presence in the airport for baggage needs, but they went with Frontier.
Frontier is a regional airline often hit with the less than charitable “Redneck Airlines.” That’s a little harsh, but Frontier flight attendants might ask what ore you want when you get on board. “Row to live.”
The Frontier baggage service desk at MKE was not maintained or staffed. It never is. I went around the back of Frontier’s service desk (a professional airline’s service venue, in this case) to see if I could find any information on where to go to report my lost bags. The Frontier representative service desk is (…here it comes…) “literally” a garbage pile. I’m not speaking metaphorically. I mean it’s piled with trash. No phone. No computer terminal. Just rubbish. See?
I took that photo. I think it’s the faint yellow tinge to the fluid in the small water bottle that disturbs me the most. Still, this is a place of business for Air Canada at an international airport. Good day, eh?
There was a note telling me to go to the ticketing desk if I needed customer service. I headed to Air Canada’s check-in area first. It was not staffed as of 5 p.m. on weekday. They were still open and doing business at MKE, but there was simply no human presence anywhere in the airport outside of the security zone. Consider that for a minute. There was no one available anywhere in the public accessible areas of the airport to help customers.
So, I tried to go to Frontier’s check-in area in the hope the someone there would be able to assist, since Air Canada partners with them. The one worker at that desk was overwhelmed by passengers checking in and selecting their choice of bread or water.
In the end, I had to call the Air Canada’s customer service 800 number overseas (based in Asia, not Canada) to report the bags missing. All totaled, it was a couple hours of futility at MKE discovering Air Canada’s lack of service or infrastructure. My bags did show up eventually, sitting around just long enough for me to unpack and pack again for my next leg.
In the end, what better picture postcard could a traveler offer to capture the joys of modern air travel? I was left at an airport with my belongings missing and no one and nothing in place to assist me in reporting the problem beyond a pile of garbage.
