Two weeks ago, our AC885 flight (CDG-YUL) was delayed five hours with air conditioning issues (some of us even boarded initially, and we asked to deplane after roasting for half an hour). The delay compounded with our further connections, and we ended up arriving in YQR exactly 24 hours late.
Now, besides the obvious inconvenience of the delays, everything AC did was nice and efficient, and I want to congratulate those employees here. A brief recap of what happened:
- We boarded AC885 (CDG-YUL) on time, but soon after boarding was suspended (and we were having a "warm" welcome inside the plane). After about half an hour, we were told to deplane while they dealt with air conditioning issues.
- After little more than two hours of waiting at the gate, the agents gave away beverages and sandwiches to all passengers.
- AC885 departed 5 hours late. Before touchdown, we were told that all of us with connections had been rebooked for the next day.
- On arrival at YUL, employees were waiting for us near the gate, and gave us new boarding passes, hotel voucher (with meals), and meal vouchers (for $40, valid for a year).
- The next day, after enjoying a great buffet breakfast at the hotel (included in our coupons), we arrived in YUL, checked our baggage, and went through security. Our flights were YUL-WPG-YQR, arriving at 18:10.
- Immediately after security, I look at the screen and see AC8595 (our flight to Winnipeg) delayed by two hours; that was longer than our connection time.
- We made our way to the service agents at gate 1. When the lady saw our predicament, she immediately phoned baggage so that they would intercept our bags; she then worked for a few minutes and got us YUL-YYZ-YQR, now arriving at 22:10.
- She seemed really concerned about our situation, and either by need or by niceness, she put us on J for YYZ-YQR (we were on cheapest of the cheapest Tango tickets).
- Our seats for AC419 (YUL-YYZ) were both middle seats and quite apart; the gate agent apologized for this, but they were booking us less than two hours before take-off, so reasonable. At the moment of boarding, the gate agent said "ah, we were waiting for you" and gave us new boarding passes with two seats side-by-side.
- On arrival, our baggage came out promptly, having been retagged at YUL.
- After getting home, I submitted a claim under EU261/2004, and got a favourable response within 24 hours; the cheques arrived home little more than a week later.
- The EUR600 is a bit more than what we paid for each of our Tango tickets.
Anyway, other than the initial mechanical delay, everything AC did was as good as we could expect. Credit where it's due.