Originally Posted by Ryan Harder

I’m returning from my Honeymoon in Europe for two weeks and we were flying home from BRU-YUL-ORD yesterday Sunday July 10 in J using aeroplan points transferee from Amex with taxes and fees paid on my American version of the Platinum card.

To start, on the BRU-YUL segment my wife’s seat was deflated from the start and needed to be reset 3or 4 times to get some padding (not all, but some was eventually available after a few different attempts my the flight attendant).

What was supposed to be a 1.5 hr transfer in Montreal was then complicated when we were not allowed to go through US customs because my checked bag was not found, and the Air Canada rep in the transfer area wouldn’t allow us through without my bag being found. During this time our flight to ORD was delayed for 45 min which we thought was a blessing at the time as it allowed for more time to find my bag. Eventually the AC rep saw that our flight to ORD was boarding on her system and filled out a lost baggage form to give to US customs and my wife and I ran to our gate.

Once at our gate we found the flight was not boarding and it was delayed for an unknown time (it said on the board that the flight was departing at a time 10 minutes in the past without boarding started). Eventually we got on the plane, taxied off, and approached the runway only for the pilot to say their was an engine oil issue and we would need to return to the gate for maintenance to have a look. We got back, outside the gate and we’re told there aren’t a lot of airport workers to tow us into the gate and will be a while (thankfully only 10/15min). After some time we’re informed that there needs to be an airplane swap and everyone’s getting off the plane.

There is then confusion on whether or not there are crews to tow over a new plane (there weren’t) and then there was no gate announcement however the gate changed so we walked over to wait another hour or so. After a while longer we’re informed that our flight is canceled (assume due to crew timing out since all of the delays) and I ran (literally) to the maple leaf lounge to get rebooked on the next available flight, nearly 30 hrs after the initial flights scheduled time Monday night at 6pm.

We were then told that we had to find a gate agent to let us out of the airside part of the terminal but none of them would allow it and kept telling us to go to different gates in a circular manor. After about 10 of us in a similar position started to loudly protest and cause a scene were we allowed through to clear Canadian customs and collect our checked baggage.

I still had no clue where my bag was, but it took about 2 hrs until my wife’s bag came out and we called it quits since I was already provided a lost bag tracking number.

I book a hotel DT Montreal since we would have the whole morning and Called it a night without any of my clothes/toiletries however the Vogue Hotel was very accommodating and provided me with many amenities.

Fast forward to this afternoon, after a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz, we didn’t want to miss our flight so arrived 4 hours early and cleared customs again. At this point we were tracking the inbound flight from DCA and see it’s about 20 min late - no big deal. We’re at the gate and there is an aircraft pulled in but are told it’s not our plane and need to wait for workers to tow it out and the departure time gets pushed another 15 minutes. Another 30 minutes go by and no update, and we see our aircraft from DCA is sitting in a holding apron. Abruptly we receive notice that our flight is canceled through the app and txt message with no communication from the gate. We luckily ran and were first in line again in the Maple leaf lounge and are now are on the 11am to ORD tomorrow morning.

We were given meal vouchers for the airport but all of the restaurants kitchens were closing and we’re bar only. Thankfully I was able to book a room at the Marriott on site and fingers crossed were able to get out tomorrow after over 50 hours of delays in Montreal.

The most baffling part this evening? We received an excuse email from AC that our flight was cancelled due to OHare weather even though it was 100% due to no staff to open gates up/ferry an aircraft.

After all of these airport and air canada problems what is my best recourse for compensation? I overheard man at the airport say canada has protection laws that require the airline to reimburse. Am I better off going that route or should I look to Amex platinum for trip interruption insurance?

Apologize for the poor writing but I’m exhausted and only have my phone to type on.