LETTER: Great local airline employees went above and beyond

The following letter was sent to SooToday by Kim and Danika Montgomery of  Aweres Twp:

There has been so much negative news recently about the airlines and the mess of cancellations, delays and lost luggage and the list goes on. But, I have a good news story to share.

Recently my daughter and I were heading off to a very overdue, but much anticipated vacation to the west coast.

We too encountered flight issues even before we ever got to the airport. But we decided not to let it get us down. After all, isn’t vacation a time of excitement and adventures?

The morning of the trip, our flights were mixed up but fortunately we had a patient and pleasant customer support associate at the Sault Ste. Marie Air Canada desk.

Amy Barbarie took the time and went out if her way to ensure we had everything all settled and offered to texted us in Toronto and Vegas to check up on us.

We again had the unfortunate issue of one luggage not show up until the next evening, but we again had very kind customer service lost luggage associates in Vegas who worked with us into the wee hours of the morning to ensure they had our information.

The trip continued but as luck would have it, my daughter’s flight was bumped to the red eye and I was unfortunately dropped from the return flight altogether.

We were trying to make a plan on how to get in touch with customer support because at that time the phone lines would not even support me on hold or utilize a call back.

Then we remembered that we had Amy’s personal cell. I love how God works.

We really hated to ask but we really didn’t see many options. Amy and her co worker Franca to the rescue. Amy reassured us she would look into it for us. The weight was lifted and we could enjoy the rest of our vacation.

We want to give a very loud shout out to the exceptional customer service of Amy Barbarie and her co worker Franca Bentrovato at the Sault Ste. Marie Air Canada Desk. These ladies went far above and beyond to assist us in our time of turmoil.

I know the world is short staffed right now, and we did choose to fly and accepted the risks that came along with that. But we are so happy to have been blessed by many kind people along our vacation journey.

- Sincerely, Kim and Danika Montgomery Aweres Twp, Ont.