We were on a paid Business AC fare CPH-YYZ-LAX. My original connection time at YYZ was to be 2 hours and 10 minutes. But the flight from CPH departed 2 hours late due to a mechanical issue (coolant system).
About 30 minutes into the delay, the lead FA announced that the issue was resolved, and they were just finishing the paper work. Captain came on to correct the FA. The issue was NOT not resolved. He had to move us away from the gate to a different part of CPH for the mechanics to continue. Strike One on the FA for falsely announcing the problem was fixed. Plane moved to another gate and the delay continued.
So we took off 2 hours late, meaning our connection time would be 10 minutes. We were supposed to land at 2:20, but it would now be 4:20 and our next flight was 4:30. I asked the FA about missed connections, and he said they would make up some time and land at 3:30 (so we would make up 50 minutes of the lost 120 minutes.) He said that we'll land at 3:30, and an hour is plenty of time at YYZ to make our connection. I've been to YYZ and I know an hour is good enough. I was content with a 1-hour connection.
Skip ahead to just before landing. The new 3:30 arrival was now updated to 3:40. I figured we still had enough time, but I checked with the FA anyway. He said we're still fine. Especially since YYZ-to-U.S. passengers do NOT have to go through security again. I knew he was wrong, as I've studied YYZ and AC forums here for the past few weeks. But he was so confident and convincing, I fell for his misinformation. I trusted his professional expertise. Strike Two on the FA for this false information.
A bit later, he came to our seats and asked our destination. We told him the 4:30 flight to LAX. "Ohhh," he says. "We've rebooked you on the 6:30 flight to LAX." He showed me a printout that said showed something like 10 LAX passengers with missed connections are re-booked on the 6:30 flight. (This was untrue and was Strike Three, all on the same FA...but we'll get to that). He said relaxing for a few hours at YYZ is better than racing through to catch a connection. Fine. (Even though he had just assured us that 50 minutes was plenty of time.).
He then made an announcement listing all the missed connection flights and the new flights people were on. There were a lot. Flight landed at 3:40 and another 10 minutes of taxi and waiting for jet way. Got off the plane at 3:55.
Took our time getting off the plane (we thought we had 2.5 hours), and there were 2 AC agents at the end of the jet way with new boarding passes for the missed connection people. But they didn't have any for me and wife or other LAX folks. "Are you sure? The FA assured us this was taken care of." No, they said, you have to see an agent at the customer service desk. Still taking our time, we went to customer service desk
#1 , and the lady said we had to go to the US side and ask someone over there. Went to desk
#2 and the guy scanned our BPs. "Why did he say you were re-booked? The 6:30 is already fully sold out. You're still on the the 4:30 flight. You better hurry." It was 4:10 at this point, and we started our sprint.
Luckily, a short security line, followed by a reasonably short Global Entry line. Sprinted to the gate and boarded with the last few people at 4:30, Phew, we made it.
I don't believe there is much compensation to ask for here, since we made both of our scheduled flights. But telling 10 different passengers that they are on a new flight when they really weren't? And misinforming the entire flight about a repair being completed? And not knowing the security procedures for his own home/hub airport? These are three unacceptable things for the lead FA to blow. Rather than ask for compensation, I simply would like to know, in detail, how each of these three errors occurred. I just want an explanation of the alleged re-booking and how he could tell us (twice) that we were on the 6:30 flight when in fact we were not.
Is there a customer service email address that might handle FA questions and procedures? Any advice on the best way to handle this?
Thanks !