SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife resident who had trouble getting flights out of the city says the skyrocketing price of fuel is no excuse for poor customer service on airlines.

Jeff Wilson, who moved here from Halifax, bought a $1,600 unlimited Air Canada flight pass for the months of April and May to travel back and forth.

Yellowknife resident Jeff Wilson, trying to navigate Air Canada's website, says Air Canada is "preventing people from voicing their complaints." - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo

After purchasing the pass, he found that most flights in and out of Yellowknife available to flight pass users were booked solid.

"Every single flight for the Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday flight pass was sold out for the entire month," Wilson said. "The point I'm trying to make is you're selling a product that you can't provide."

His fiancée also bought a flight pass, which the airline advertises as allowing "optimum travel flexibility" and she had the same problem - the few flights leaving Yellowknife on the days open to passholders were full.

When Wilson phoned Air Canada's reservation line to complain, the representative told him to contact the customer relations department by e-mail. The airline doesn't have a customer service phone line, so customers have to send complaints by e-mail, mail or fax.

But Wilson said e-mail isn't an option for people who have low literacy skills or who don't have access to a computer or to the web, and postal mail often takes too long.

"They're really preventing people from voicing their complaints," he said. "As a customer, it's almost degrading if you have a legitimate concern and you're not allowed to raise it."

Air Canada spokesperson Angela Mah said the airline uses an e-mail comment service as a convenience to customers, adding that agents always get back to customers, usually by phone.

"We just find that with the technology available, most customers prefer to use e-mail," she said. "Generally speaking, flight pass availability is good," Mah added, although the airline has been offering special seat sales that coincide with flight pass users' travel dates.

Wilson e-mailed the airline, writing that he felt "misled as a user of the pass and disappointed that (he was) not able to access the service."

In response, an Air Canada employee said smaller flights, like the ones out of Yellowknife, fill up faster and advised him to book trips earlier. As a last resort, Wilson then guessed the e-mail address of Air Canada President Montie Brewer and wrote to share his complaint and to recommend the airline open up more travel dates for passholders. His e-mail prompted Air Canada to offer Wilson a partial refund of his flight pass, but he said that wasn't the point of his complaint.

"There's so much worry about fuel prices, but if they're worried about their business they need to focus on customer service," he said. "If customers don't fly on their planes, they won't have to worry about fuel prices."

Air Canada recently added fuel surcharges between $20 and $45 to flight prices and cancelled 10 Canadian flight routes in response to rising fuel costs.

Mah said the airline is still reviewing its schedule and thinking about more changes.

"Oil will cost us twice as much as last year," she said. "We are taking a look and considering whether it still makes sense to continue flying to certain destinations."