I was flying on an LU award ticket from YSB to CDG, on AC for YSB-YYZ and YYZ-FRA and on LU for FRA-CDG.

The connection in Toronto was going to be tight, I was scheduled to arrive at 21:00 and to depart at 22:10. Worse, the last flight of the day out of Sudbury is rumoured to be extremely unreliable, regardless of weather, which was in fact good, if chilly.

Given that I was dropping someone off at YSB for a 13:40 flight, I pointed out the tight connection to an AC agent and asked if I could be put on an earlier flight to save all involved potential grief. I was offered the chance to do so for a $75 fee, which I declined to pay. It was then noted that I was flying on a reward ticket, and it was suggested that I phone Aeroplan, which seemed pointless given that the ticket was booked with Miles and More. I waited around for a different agent, made my case once more, and was very helpfully put on an earlier flight at no expense to myself.

Now, had I not been persistent and had the second agent not been helpful, I would have missed the flight to Frankfurt as YSB-YYZ (AC 7816) turned out to be 86 minutes late.

My questions then are these:

1. Had I missed that flight what, if any thing, would Air Canada have been obliged to offer me in terms of compensation?

2. If any meaningful compensation is in fact the norm, would it not be better for Air Canada to readily and willingly make a point of getting people in that situation on earlier flights to avoid risk of incurring that expense?