Originally Posted by eigenvector

People are accustomed to certain inclusions when purchasing items or services. For instance, if you dine at a restaurant in Canada it is expected that tap water at your table and access to a toilet will be provided free of charge. These inclusions make transactions easier because every time you purchase that service you don't have to spend time inquiring whether you need to bring your own toilet paper to the restaurant or purchase it a la carte for $20/roll (available at time of booking only).

Every airline in the world provides, or at least claims to provide, timely rebooking assistance to passengers during IRROPs. It's unreasonable to expect Air Canada passengers to be responsible to know that Air Canada apparently will not do this except for an extra surcharge, which is payable at booking and only on a small subset of itineraries (within NA) and when booking directly with Air Canada.

If Air Canada wants to unbundle to this extent it's their right to do so but it should be done in a way that is clear, consistent and understandable for passengers, and OMW is none of that.

The large portion of travelers who book through Air Canada's authorized agents may not even be aware of the existence of OMW.

International itineraries aren't eligible for OMW.

OMW does not even help with tasks that can only be completed by an airport agent.

OMW is marketed as a convenient add-on not a basic requirement for acceptable service.