Friday, November 2^nd

Woke up fairly early – ready to start the first day of our trip. Finished off the packing, and headed to the airport with plenty of time to make the flight. We were happy and carefree as we headed into the terminal to check in. Then reality hit.

We went to check in using the Kiosks, since they are just SO much faster than standing in line. However, when the computer brought up our reservation, it indicated that we were on a Standby status. Wha.. the… Fu..????? I look down at my itinerary (produced by Air Canada), and it says that we have confirmed seats for 16E & 16F. I look at the Kiosk. I look at the itinerary. I look at the Kiosk again. Um, Houston, I think we have a problem.

With Randy’s newly acquired Elite status, we went over to the Business Class check-in to find out what the heck was going on. The check-in agent (a former Wardair employee) was very sympathetic, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do for us. Apparently Air Canada had made an equipment change, and as a result, our confirmed seats went off into the great unknown. There was also an equipment change for our Vancouver-Honolulu flight, so our seats were across the aisle from each other.

Greeaaat. So, anyway, we took our humiliatingly yellow (signifying Loser) Standby boarding cards and went through security to the gate. There were Air Canada agents at the gate, but of course they couldn’t help us because they were the gate agents for the PRIOR flight.Geez, don’t want to have to do any extra work or anything. So, we headed off to the Maple Leaf Lounge (another perk of Elite status). We had some drinks and snacks, and then went back down to the gate for when the gate agents for the other flight arrived. They took our cards and said they would see what they could do. Randy flashed his Elite card, but they didn’t seem to care one way or the other. You would think that if someone flies over 60 flights a year, that they just MIGHT want to cater a little more to that client.

So, we hang out at the gate. They board all the passengers that have assigned seats, then they start calling out people that are on Standby. Finally they call our names, but then say “Sorry, we couldn’t get seats together”. Groan. So, Randy is in 6E and I am in 13E. Middle seats. Apart.

Well, it was only a 1 & ½ hour flight to Vancouver, so it went by quickly. When we got to Vancouver, we went straight to the gate for the Honolulu flight. No one was there, so we decided to stand there and wait so that we are first in line to be served. We waited about 15 minutes, and the gate agents arrived. We explained that since we are going on a holiday together, it would be really swell if we actually were sitting together. The gate agent said “Well, you are sitting together – across the aisle”. I don’t know if she was joking or not, but it wasn’t that funny. We noticed that we weren’t the only people travelling together that had been separated. Air Canada really screwed up on this one.

So, we were first in line and we left our boarding cards so that they could maybe find us seats that were actually next to each other. We headed off to the Maple Leaf Lounge to relax. Had some beverages and some snacks, then we headed back to the gate to see what was up. When we got there, they had already started boarding people. We went to the gate agents and asked whether or not they had found any seats together for us. At first, the guy didn’t even know what we were talking about, then he finally said “Oh, here they are – oh, sorry we couldn’t get you any different seats”. It didn’t seem like they had even TRIED to look for seats for us. Grrrrrr. I said to Randy – “Gee if this is how they treat their Elite passengers, I would hate to see how they treat people that aren’t frequent fliers!”

So, we get on the plane and settle into our seats across the aisle from each other. The seats are in the same row, however the seats next to the window are a little ahead of the middle seats. So, Randy would have to turn around in his seat if he wanted to actually talk to me. When the person sitting next to Randy arrived, she was kind enough to change seats with me so that I could sit next to him. She had been separated from her boyfriend, (who was sitting several rows ahead), so it didn’t matter to her which seat she was in. That was very nice of her. So, we did end up sitting together – but no thanks to Air Canada!!

The flight was uneventful. The food they served was actually pretty good for a change. We arrived in Honolulu about half an hour later than scheduled (because we took off late). It didn’t take very long to go through customs, and by the time we got to the baggage carousel, our luggage was already there. So, we headed out of the terminal, grabbed a cab and headed to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.