Since it was an international itinerary, your daughter's rights are governed by the
Montreal Convention. Under
Article 19, the carrier is presumed to be liable for delay, but can rebut that presumption if it can establish an affirmative defence (not likely in this case).
Under
Article 36(2), whoever was in charge of the YUL-ORD segment is liable for the entire delay. One might say that it was Air Canada, but it is a bit more complicated than that.
Article 39 distinguishes between "contracting carrier" and "actual carrier."
- If the YUL-ORD segment appears on the ticket with an AC flight number, then only Air Canada is liable.
- If it appears on the ticket with a UA flight number (as a code-share), then both United and Air Canada are liable, pursuant to Article 41.
The safest action in these circumstances is to put both Air Canada and United on notice that your daughter is seeking damages.
You may find a sample letter and more information in
this note on the Air Passenger Rights page on Facebook.
You may also want to post details of your daughter's experience in the
Air Passenger Rights Facebook group.
Originally Posted by
syrahnose
Air Canada has had major system crash today with total black out. I had my daughter routed from Montreal YUL to ORD on AC, then United rest of way ORD to SFO to AKL to WLG. All ticked on United.
AC managed to miss the first connection which ran on time and my daughter missed by 2 minutes specifically because AC eventually ticketed manually, had long lines at AC check in and made no effort to get passengers on soon to leave flights. My daughter was at checkout 2.5 hours before departure.
Long story short. Instead of rerouting her via other United connections which would have allowed her to pick up United's SFO-Auckland flight, AC routed her through Vancouver to Sydney to Wellington via AC metal. End result is she was delayed at destination by 9.5 hours. Crappy seats and older, less comfortable planes.
From what I've read, it being AC's fault and not an act of god, I should be eligible for compensation. No where along the line was any food coupons offered even though over 3 hours first delay.
It would have been much better if she'd been allowed to come home and take a delayed flight tomorrow instead of stretching 20 hour flight into 30.
Do I go through 1k channels or direct to AC for compensation.