High-flying First Air gets low marks from public

DWANE WILKIN

­High prices, low-quality service.

Ask anyone who has flown First Air recently and chances are the nicest comment you’ll hear about the eastern Arctic’s largest airline is that they still serve a decent meal.

Then again, you could treat a dozen people for dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel with the money it now costs to purchase a full-fare return ticket to Montreal.

After taxes, travelers to Montreal and Ottawa fork out a whopping $1,850.03 per seat, which presumably works wonders on the airline’s bottom line. But a growing number of consumers don’t think they’re getting their money’s worth.

Is it justified?

“We hear continual grumbling,” travel agent Terri Chegwyn, says, “and there are valid complaints­there are valid complaints with any service.”

But according to Chegwyn, manager of Qamutik Travel in Iqaluit, the absence of choice is as much a source of dissatisfaction as the service itself.

“A lot of it’s just because First Air’s the only one here, so people kind of feel cheated.”

Whither the cheap seats?

A common lament is that seat sales on flights to southern Canada have vanished since Canadian North pulled out of Iqaluit in the fall of 1995.

“There used to be more ‘special’ specials,” recalls Chegwyn. “That’s where you really notice the difference.”

Canadian and NWT Air, for instance, locked in a battle for the Iqaluit-to-Yellowknife market, frequently advertise flights for as cheap as $229. But with Canadian out of the picture, First Air isn’t compelled to offer any deals.

Even standard excursion fares to Montreal or Ottawa, which come in at $1,000 after taxes, are tougher than ever to book.

Travel agents report that reservations made seven days or more in advance can no longer guarantee discount rates. Either the airline is offering fewer discounts for reserving tickets in advance, or more people are traveling.

Tracy Beeman, director of passenger marketing and sales, couldn’t say which was the case, pointing out that there’s no hard and fast rule obliging carriers to set aside a fixed portion of cut-rate seats.

“It’s something airlines decided as part of their pricing strategy, based on how many of the expensive fares they think they’re going to sell,” Beeman said.

“We do limit them just like any other carrier does, and they do go fast, because they’re cheaper fares, obviously,” Beeman said.

Higher fares

Although the airline says its fare increases “reflect fairly” increased operating costs, First Air fares have been rising faster compared to similar markets served by more than one carrier.

In Rankin Inlet, for example, where service to Winnipeg is divided among three carriers­NWT Air, Canadian North and Calm Air­a seat booked seven days in advance is nearly $200 cheaper than an excursion fare on First Air from Iqaluit to Montreal. The difference in flying time?

About ten minutes.

Seven years ago, excursion-fare prices were between $600 and $700 for travel to Montreal or Ottawa­in line with the cost of travel betwen Rankin Inlet and Winnipeg.

Today an excursion rate seat to Montreal or Ottawa costs $1,000, tax included, while the Rankin Inlet-to-Winnipeg trip comes in at $816.

What’s more, airlines catering to passengers who fly out of Rankin have to be more flexible about the number of excursion-rate seats they offer on a given flight.

“They all have a set number of seats allocated to start with,” travel agent Gail Gavel says, “then if that flight isn’t selling out, or the excursion rates are going very quickly, they may allocate more.”

Bolstered by profits of $3 million last year, First Air is now considering a takeover of NWT Air from Air Canada to extend its monoploy into the western Arctic.

Cold comfort

If customers in the eastern Arctic have reason to complain, First Air’s service in the western Arctic hasn’t won the airline any fans, either.

There, on-board heating problems have plagued the airline’s fleet of aged Hawker Siddley 748s.

At least one irate passenger is demanding a full refund for himself and other passengers after enduring a freezing six-hour flight from Gjoa Haven to Yellowknife last February.

“It was minus-40 on the ground and I can tell you it was very cold up there,” recalls Philippe Di Pizzo, executive director of the Nunavut Water Board.

To make matters worse, Di Pizzo says there were no blankets on board­not even a cup of warm coffee.

“In general the service is very poor, the aircraft are in very poor shape, most of the seats are broken, it makes you wonder about the mechanics.”

We’re looking into it

First Air’s director of commercial operations, Rudy Kellar, says the company is trying to cope with the problem.

“We will be addressing new modes of heat on the turbo-prop services,” he said.”It’s another one of those things we’re looking at,”

“If upgrading the heating system in the aircraft is required, then that’s what we’ll end up doing. But prior to going out and doing that, we have to be sure we’ve done all we can do with our existing ones.”

Mechanical malfunctions are not unknown to clients of First Air’s jet service, either. Delays of up to several hours are increasingly common, and Kellar conceded that the airline itself has been unsatisfied with its recent on-time performance.

“We’ve had some bad luck with regards to mechanical problems, which are unavoidable,” said Kellar.

“As a result it certainly affects customer service.”