Originally Posted by
FrequentFlyerYYZ
I've helped someone through this process before - in their case it was a plane that developed a pressure leak over the Atlantic and had to turn back. AC provided overnight accommodations for the passengers etc... but denied the 600EUR claim.
After filing with the Irish aviation authority, Air Canada responded with an extensive set of documentation to demonstrate that the plane was well-maintained and the delay could not have been foreseen (i.e., these filings get treated seriously by AC). The authority concurred and claim was denied.
Expect a few months wait and a high likelihood that AC will provide sufficient evidence to justify extraordinary reasons for the delay and therefore no payout. Anything you overheard from gate staff is entirely irrelevant, unfortunately. That said, nothing wrong with trying.
As for your small claims court, suspect that AC acted within the conditions of tariff and therefore no damages apply - but then IANAL.
Thank you very much, this is very useful. What I heard from agents, crew and pilots was more or less that there was a delay in previous flight operated by the aircraft, then the crew timed out, and finally that they decided to change aircrafts so that the original aircraft could operate its next mission (the original A333 was substituted by a smaller B763), probably to avoid a chain of delays, but making our delay huge. It is my understanding that the above does not constitute "extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline control", as then it would mean that no delays at all are due to airline's fault (Air Canada could have had more spare capacity, more crew on call, more time between flights, etc.), and that is why I am pursuing this so intently. If the above account is wrong and the delay was indeed genuinely due to extraordinary circumstances beyond the airline's control such as weather, I will be happy to drop any claims and to renounce to any further compensation, but so far no one at Air Canada has been specific about the reasons for the delay, and the vagueness of their responses on that front only adds to the frustration.