Porter Airlines
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Another promising air company turning into scam show
Another promising air company turning into a scam show... :( Booked normal ECONOMY flight from SFA to Toronto around Christmas time. Not cheap as you may imagine. Upon booking was surprised to find that NO laggage whatsoever was included, had to pay additional 60CAD for check-in I didnt even need. Further - more. No mobile boarding pass issued... Called support and to more surprise discovered that my booking is "basic", which means both no laggage and NO guaranteed sit. And of course - ALL their flights around holiday time are overbooked. Now the best part - although being very sorry for inconvenience them overbooking they readily offered me to, naturally as a one-time special offer, to promote my booking to *economy* class, which would guarantee boarding, for just extra 500 CAD on top of already paid price... Classic scam schema at work! Experience summary: 1. They deliberately overbook (and try to convince that's a normal every day practice now) and openly say that "chances to board for you are VERY low") 2. Immediately offer to pay a good chunk extra to upgrade to what you in fact *already paid* for 3. No cancel option - can't be seated on your flight, but can't cancel either (they want your money regardless whether you actually fly or not) 4. Never mention own compensation policy for overbooked flights (they must compensate up to 400% based on own rules published online). Moreover - manager tried to play it "you misunderstand the policy, it doesn't apply" way. 5. Conversation with customer service, regardless of evidence of booking or reasoning provided, stumble at "you have 2 options - pay extra to upgrade to get on the *same* flight or move to another flight (multiple stops, next 2 days etc ). DESPITE seats factually available on the same flight. They keep pressing with "trust us - it's the best deal you can have! it will cost more of you shop elsewhere". They know they got you hooked! 6. Finally - customer service: both support operator and later her manager, after unsuccessfully trying to sell same upgrade bullshit, simply hung off. Is outrageous such scam tactics are officially a standard business among air companies now. They simply exploit most sensitive time for travel, I did get seated immediately after arriving to airport (100% sure is result of fighting back with support), but can only imagine how many people gave up and "upgraded" to make sure they board.