This post isn’t about Kitsilano but I need to vent. I spent last weekend in Las Vegas – great time, even won enough money to pay for my trip.
When planning this jaunt, we had a couple flight options but I figured I’d support a Canadian airline rather than flying on Alaska Airlines. Don’t make the assumption that Harmony Airlines is anything like the low-cost airline they are trying to emulate – WestJet – because they are far from it!
I was the 1st of my party to commit to the trip and booked my flight online. A week later, one of my fellow travellers called me to ask why I didn’t book on a direct flight. What the @#$&? But I booked a non-stop Vancouver to Las Vegas return flight – what was he talking about?? Why would I choose to make any stops on the way to or from when a non-stop option was available on Alaska Airlines. I’m very comfortable with flying but I always choose to limit my take-offs and landings whenever possisble!
Upon further investigation and numerous calls to Harmony’s customer service department (if you can call it that), they told me that they were perfectly within their rights to make any changes they wanted to my flight. I can understand rescheduling it to arrrive an hour later or earlier, but adding an additonal stop on the return flight seems a bit extreme. Since I knew there was a alternative flight on Alaska, I asked for a refund – no go, they wouldn’t refund my flight, it was booked and I would not be getting my money back. We hit a stalemate on the phone, so I demanded to talk to the Manager. She agreed to give me a one-time refund – but this was only available to me RIGHT NOW and the offer would not be extended to the others flying with me. This was meant to be a social weekend, so I expressed my disgust and kept my ticket because I didn’t want to fly alone after suggesting to everyone else that Harmony was worth a shot.
Here’s the kicker: While sitting at a Blackjack table at the Aladdin we met a gentleman from Victoria who was flying back to Canada on the same flight as us. It turns out the charter flight that his travel agent had put together for 70+ people from Victoria had been cancelled and Harmony agreed to take it on for a measley $15,000. Maybe Gary Collins and his cronies were on the flight! Good work Harmony – you made a little extra dough while alienating all your Vancouver-bound passengers. This airline won’t last long.
I won’t even bother commenting on the low-quality food service (please define “hot meal”), outdated planes (overhead bins held together by duct tape), and grouchy flight attendants (it was probably their mid 80’s uniforms that were pissing them off).
Don’t fly Harmony Airways unless there is NO alternative!!
Last modified: June 2, 2008
