Originally Posted by
frappant
Or do they just vaguely talk about Customer Care compensating me in some sense but in practice, they deny reimbursement requests for expenses incurred because of circumstances that I had nothing to do with?
It’s not “because of circumstances that [you] had nothing to do with.” You tried to fix a problem that didn’t exist, and, in doing so, messed up the entire remainder of your ticket. (I’m frankly rather surprised that AC boarded you on YVR/BNE; they must not have received the cancellation in time).
UA isn’t going to reimburse you for your hotel costs. It sounds like you got them to reinstate the remainder of your reservation and got you home at no additional charge, which was beyond what they were required to do.
And, for the peanut gallery — there’s no need to bloviate about consumer protection laws — they don’t apply to voluntary changes. (If they did, of course, the predictable response would be that airlines would be unwilling to make any changes even when they really are necessary).