Air Canada Reviews 

Worst flights I and my family have ever taken in our lives. Whether it be delayed 8hrs while on the tarmac or canceling our connecting flight home making us wait 1-2 days to get home with almost nobody at customer service too not to mention.

If I could I’d give it -5 stars.

My experience with Air Canada and Toronto Pearson Airport was extremely disappointing and unnecessarily stressful.

On April 4th, I travelled with my children from Aruba to London via Toronto, with only a 2-hour connection. Despite being in transit and not intending to enter Canada, we were forced to go through full immigration and customs, exit into the main terminal, and then queue again for security screening.

This process is completely illogical. We had already been screened at departure, yet we were treated as new passengers and pushed into the general flow, resulting in long queues and confusion. There were no clear signs, no proper guidance, and no support for passengers with tight connections. We nearly missed our flight.

When we approached security staff for assistance, explaining that we had a short layover, we were simply told that nothing could be done. No prioritisation, no help, no understanding.

The situation was made worse by inconsistent duty-free handling. Items purchased in Aruba were sealed in official security bags with receipts, yet security staff insisted on opening them. This completely defeats the purpose of duty-free packaging and creates unnecessary inconvenience, especially when the items are intended as gifts.

Overall, the entire experience felt poorly organised, inefficient, and not designed with passengers in mind. For transit travellers, especially those with children or short connections, this setup creates avoidable stress and risk.

After this experience, I will actively avoid both Air Canada and Toronto Pearson Airport in the future and would strongly recommend others to do the same.

On the day of our flight, my family and I had a problem with our luggage upon boarding. The children asked a flight attendant to help them lift our carry-on luggage up the aisle, as I was far away from them and there were several people in line. Climbing over everyone was awkward because we were blocking the aisle. The flight attendant refused to help, rudely stating, "I'm not here for that." When I pointed out that he was a man and could help, as the children were small and couldn't reach the top, he replied, "I won't do that," and took offense at my remark about him being a man. Another man standing next to the flight attendant helped us, but...the flight attendant started nervously calling someone and filing a complaint against us. As a result, we were kicked off the plane without explanation. As a result, I, a single mother with two children, lost the money I spent on tickets, four days of vacation, and was forced to book flights with another airline. Our flight is now 30 hours long, and due to weather conditions, it was extended by another 24 hours. This was all done by one person, who felt insulted.

Furthermore, we incurred additional expenses related to baggage and subsequent organizational difficulties. Given the circumstances and the emotional and financial impact of this incident on us, customer service responded three months later without compensating us, saying they had been informed that you had violated safety. "The worst airline in every sense of the word," she said. "It's simply ridiculous that a woman with two children violated safety."

In the past year I’ve flown on airlines including Ethiopian (who are not as bad as their revews suggest) , Hong Kong airlines, Emirates (who are not as good as their reviews suggest), puddle jumpers such as Tropic Air, etc. Air Canada cabin service is consistently the worst. I don’t know why. Maybe because even for personal travel their crews fly AC so they never get to see what good service is like. Perhaps their wrinkled polyester uniforms set the tone for their work level. On the plus side almost half the AC flights I’ve taken have departed more or less on time, so there’s that. Pro tip: bring your own food on board. On a recent flight from Shanghai to Vancouver the cubed beef was so tough and chewy that it must have been the ungraded stuff you’re starting to see at No Frills and other discount grocery stores. That’s on top of their usual touches, such as giving you ice-cold utensils to eat hot food.

We had three domestic flights in Canada cancelled on us under the span of thirty-six hours. As we flew in from Australia and only have a few days in Canada, you can only imagine how we feel. Customer service for Air Canada is non-existent. There are no bots to talk to, there are no updates when you are on hold on the phone (we've been on hold for four hours). When someone finally replies on a social media platform, they don't read your request properly and message you flight times and dates that don't add up. This airline NEEDS to improve their customer service.

One of the worst experiences of my life. The seats were so close together that I spent the entire flight with a stranger in my lap. On top of that, every flight was mysteriously delayed by at least an hour and there was no onboard entertainment provided during and wifi was only available at a whopping 20$ for laggy often unusable streaming connection. If you can book with another airline I highly recommend you save yourself the hell that is this airline.

I would like to tell you my experience, but I cannot. Still waiting for it :)
After they canceled my flights I'm waiting for hour and half on-line on the phone and still no answer....

Delay after delay after delay. Every flight I took since January has been delayed causing missed connections, missed appointments and missed days of work not getting paid. I have no choice but to book Air Canada but what an appalling airline. Absolutely disgraceful. Staff is rude, non-chalant and do not care what happens to you.

Have a credit to use. Been trying use it online for the past week and a half. Unable to use due to apparently only available on the phone. Tried calling and wait times over 3 hours (weather conditions is the reason apparently). After a couple days I finally Recieved a callback after 4-5 hours after my call (the message said 2 hours). Call was after midnight. Was talking to the agent and was told that I could use the credit. When he kept looking seems like the credit expired 2 days ago. Now they say I have to petition customer management to see if I can use my money.

I asked for a refund for the ticket, they said no. I tried using online, there's no option. You call to use it they don't answer. Return call after 4 hours and over midnight (seems fishy to see if you miss the call). Simply steal your money and don't give you options to use the credit adequately. Why should a credit expire first of all? It's like the bank saying oh you didn't call us in a year, we assumed you don't your money so we took it.

I asked to log a complaint, it was mentioned they don't take complaints directly.

Simly disgusting customer service. I wish I had gone online to view all this reviews.

I need to use the money or get it back

Flight Number -0854 from Toronto to London Heathrow on March 30th. Simon was an exceptional flight steward who went above and beyond to accommodate my son who has Autism. He was extremely patient

Very bad airline. Awful service. Frequent delays, it’s laughable. Even worse damage control; once I had a flight delayed by 6 hours and they gave me a $15 meal voucher 😄

Air Canada - you have an employee engagement problem. I just took an international trip with multiple issues, but what was most striking was how the employees consistently threw Air Canada under the bus. The steward announcing the delay said 'SOMEONE in management made the decision to wait for passengers, which is my personal pet peeve' this person then proceeded to inappropriately tell the details of a family they had pulled off the plane (how many people, how much luggage they had, each).

Another told me (it was the 22 of March) 'Today's breakfast yogurt expired on the 5 of March, that's so typical of Air Canada'.

AC automatically rebooked me mid-flight to a new route that added 12 hours to my travel time due to a delay. Arriving in Toronto, AC told me to RUN to the gate - they were holding the plane for me, so I did. I got there in time, but AC's system wouldn't allow me to board on MY ORIGINAL FLIGHT that I was in time for and they had held for me (and other passengers). While this was immensely frustrating (and thanks AC for the $15 meal voucher that bought half of my salad, but nothing for the second stop that wasn't originally in my plan).

What was stunning was the AC staff's active disengagement - none of them taking ownership, all basically admitting that the company they work for is below par. They are protecting their own reputation by distancing themselves from the company.

AC - start with taking care of your employees if you want better customer reviews.

In the air now on my way home and this is the WORST airline ever. I flew WestJet to my destination and they are amazing, I’m flying Air Canada home. They put me at the back of the plane, took my cane from me so I struggled to get to the bathroom, they hit my arm twice and DIDNT EVEN SAY SORRY!!! We’ve been in the air almost two hours and they still haven’t come to offer drinks, I had to pay $8 for wifi, oh btw it was FREE on WestJet. DO NOT fly Air Canada, it truly is a horrible airline and they should be ashamed. These flight attendants on this particular flight are rude and not friendly and don’t really care. Pretty sad!! I’ll NEVER fly with this airline again, EVER!!!!! 😡😡😡

Automed system does not take into consideration a couple with a baby and place them in their worst seats at the end, no option for moving chairs back, cannot hold baby with comfort due to many people standing close to the toiletm. There is no real priority for families. Would love to take a different airline next time.

My sister's luggage did not arrive with our flight to London from Montreal which also has my belongings in it. Tracking of delayed baggage is poor,awful food on the plane. Trying to get through to speak to customer service about delayed baggage is a nightmare. Flights were delayed and the air hostesses are not hospitable at all. There was only one of them who smiled. The rest were not well presented or friendly/hospitable as you see of other airline air hostesses. Only positive thing was leg room and comfort of seats in economy that's why I am giving 1 star

I am very disappointed. Life is unpredictable — due to an accident and bowel surgery, I was unable to go on my trip. It wasn’t a holiday, but a long journey to visit my parents in Ukraine (three flights, over 24 hours). I notified the company a month in advance and simply asked to change the date, not for a refund. The company showed no flexibility or understanding whatsoever.

They left my luggage behind due to flight weight issues, apparently they do not care I paid extra for checked luggage. The luggage arrived at 10am the day after I did but no one informed me of this until 8 that evening. And despite being assured in both in Canada and Rome that they would deliver my bag to my hotel I had to take 4 hours out of my vacation to fetch it from Rome airport. Air Canada could not care less about its customers.

Air Canada is the worse airline in history they really suck I wouldn’t recommend anyone flying on that crap very stupid airline not worth the money. Take my advice avoid at any cost.

Booked a flight for 2 for a few months ahead. Booked a better economy rate to get baggage and a front of economy seat. Just found out my flight is cancelled. The alternatives offered were to fly with United, or take an 8 hour 2 leg trip instead of direct. Opted for the direct flight, but my upgraded economy not honoured and was told (via messenger) to organise my own seats with United. For the same ones that $180 extra EACH. so we paid for those seats, and will need to pay again. Rubbish. Don’t bother trying to get through on the phone, I’ve wasted hours waiting and being cut off. No further help available either by other channels. Last time I’ll consider AC. “Best airline in North America “ I sincerely hope not.

Multiple delayed flights. No compensation. left stranded with no accommodation. And no bag for a change of clothes. Extremely expensive and terribly small seating. I will never fly with again.