Originally Posted by
Often1
The COC give DL the option of a rebook on the AC flight. As a practical matter, you need to ask or you need to luck out with an agent who looks. Here, the other pax either asked the agent with whom he dealt or the agent looked and offered it.
As a suggestion for future, it always pays to do the legwork yourself and to ask for what you want. The worst you can get is a "no".
In this case, OP is at least due a refund of the value of his EWR-YYZ segment. That may or may not cover his AC ticket, but it should be something.
Thanks for all the feedback. They have processed a refund on the EWR YYZ leg that was almost equal to the AC fare. Next time I will try your suggestion, do the legwork and ask them to rebook me. Will be curious to see the result.