Air Canada Was Named The Best Airline In North America – But Passengers Seem To Disagree

Air Canada just received high praise for its service and cabins, although not all passengers seem to agree with the award.

Air Canada was named the "Best Airline in North America" on Thursday, marking the fourth consecutive year the carrier has received the recognition.

The airline received the award from Global Traveler Magazine, which also named Air Canada as having the Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness for the third year in a row.

The praise comes as part of Global Traveler's GT Tested Reader Survey, in which the magazine asks readers and travellers to name the best of the best in several travel-related categories, including airlines, hotels and loyalty programs.

The win may be surprising to some, given that Air Canada has received quite a bit of criticism from passengers as travel returned to pre-pandemic levels this year.

Some even took to Twitter to share their disagreement with Air Canada winning the title of Best Airline in North America.

"Hard to believe an airline can be given an award when its customer service is the worst in [the] industry," said one Twitter user.

"Pretty low bar for the flight industry," said another commenter.

"If Air Canada is the best, I don't want to think what the worst is like!" said another traveller.

"This is a joke right? Horrible service, can’t get through on a call for hours, the bereavement policy for tickets is a joke where in an emergency they expect to call and stay online for hours then upfront get approval before buying tickets, cancelled flights etc," said someone else.

Many others criticized the airline's delays, cancellations and customer service this year, with some celebrities even getting involved.

In August, Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis called Air Canada "the worst airline in North America," saying that the airline "kicked" him out of his first class seat "to back of plane" when he arrived at the departure gate with no explanation other than that the flight was fully booked.

"Confirmed. @AirCanada is the worst airline in North America. And that’s saying something," he said in a tweet at the time.

Despite the criticism, Air Canada has received many other awards in 2022 praising its service and features.

Earlier this year, Air Canada was named the Best Airline for Onboard Entertainment and the Best Airline for Onboard Menu, and was also awarded for having the Best Premium Economy Class.

The Canadian airline was also named the Best Family-Friendly Airline in North America and the Best Family Friendly International Airline for the fourth and third consecutive year, respectively, by Global Traveler and its sister publication, WhereverFamily.

It was also named one of the World's Best Employers for 2022 in November by Forbes, coming in at number 162 out of 800 companies from around the world.