Canadian celebrity Kardinal Offishall calls out Air Canada for being overcharged and kicked out of his seat
One of Canada’s notable artists, Kardinal Offishall, had some strong words for Air Canada on Wednesday morning after a nightmare situation with the airline.
“Dear [Air Canada], for several years I remain loyal, but it’s days like today that I question myself,” Kardinal said at the beginning of his message to the airline on Instagram. “I enjoy your planes, but the actual process to getting into my seat remains an unnecessary thorn in my side.”
According to his post, Kardinal checked-in to his flight from London on Tuesday and paid for a seat upgrade. After he received several error messages he called his credit card company and discovered he was charged for the upgrade five times, totalling “a few grand.”
Visa provided the Canadian celebrity with the amounts and reference numbers needed to get the charges reversed from Air Canada directly, and he spent three hours on the phone to get the charges rectified.
But that’s not where it ends.
When Kardinal arrived at the airport on Wednesday, the ticketing agent told him he was removed from his seat entirely.
According to the star, the agent said, “Yeah, your seat is gone. They didn’t do anything to hold it and everything is now full.”
Aside from the error in removing his seat reservation, Kardinal also called out the airline for the unacceptable way they treated him as a long-time, status-holding customer. He also mentioned that staff has frequently questioned his position as a business class or priority passenger.
“NOT ONCE DID ANYONE [APOLOGIZE] for the fraud that was committed by charging my card several times or the time spent on the phone with visa and Air Canada,” the artist wrote.
“I’m just tired of having to deal with lies, false promises, inconsistencies and disrespect.”
Hello Kardinal, thank you for reaching out to us. We sincerely regret to hear this. Our customer's satisfaction is one of our main priority. Could you please provide us your booking reference in a direct message, so we may better monitor this situation ? /Martha
— Air Canada (@AirCanada) August 28, 2019
Air Canada has responded to the celebrity on Twitter, asking him to send his reservation information to them in a direct message so they can “monitor this situation.”
Fans, other artists and even local politicians took to social media to support Kardinal:
Pretty sure you have his contact info already...
— Adam Vaughan 🇨🇦 (@TOAdamVaughan) August 28, 2019
“Post script: Air Canada is consistently the worst airline service-wise that I've ever flown for my entire career.” - DJ Jillionaire wrote in the comments of Kardinal’s Instagram post.
Why does it take for him to put you on Blast publicly to try and rectify the situation? That should have been your first priority while he was still at the airport.
— Troy (@blackmantroy) August 28, 2019
Air canada has the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Tried to stay loyal but had to jump ship to @WestJet they are far superior in every way.
— Brett Boyce (@BrettBoyce1) August 28, 2019
“Sorry to tell you big bro, that it pretty much doesn't matter what airline you use. Especially if it's still a Star Alliance company. You will get exactly the same treatment with all airlines. It's a thing. It's also the reason my mom left her executive position at a major international airline. All airlines practice this foolishness and fraud with no remorse and the staff are all underpaid so they really don't care to be helpful.” - Singer Shontelle Layne wrote on Instagram.
My boy was bumped off his flight, given no food credits or hotel and had to “sleep” in the airport for over 20 hrs until they could get him on a flight. He was to timid to put up a stink, i would have lost my mind at every air canada employee until I was fairly compensated.
— Steven Charron (@TheRealAirnova) August 28, 2019
