Originally Posted by
Safti
the flight was a YYZ-MSP which was coming to pick us up in MSP and doing the return trip to YYZ. It apparently never made it to MSP so we had no aircraft and it was the last returning flight to YYZ. So, there was no aircraft for us. AC booked us the following morning. I don’t know whether this is considered an International flight so not sure how to follow up.
Yes that's an international flight since last I checked the United States and Canada are two separate countries. The United States and obviously Canada are both signatories to the
Montreal Convention, so yes it would apply in this case. Whether to file an APPR claim or a claim under the Montreal Convention is your choice. There are benefits to both options (i.e. the Montreal Convention provides up to $7000 for damages incurred during irregular operations such as hotels, meals, etc.) in addition to its good protection on lost luggage whereas the APPR has a more streamlined process albeit from my experience can be tricky to get money from the airlines without threatening to take them to small claims court.
Originally Posted by
Bravada04
Came in from CUN connecting onto YWG. Full crew on plane minus one of the Pilots. Desk agent must have announced 3-4 times about one of the Pilots over their hours so they are trying to find another. This was already getting late in the night, so to no surprise they finally announce flight cancelled and go pick up bags at carousel #1. No other assistance or information whatsoever other than check your phones.
We are exhausted. Of course our luggage doesn’t arrive - go to the luggage agent and he says yours is on #8 but you need to meet someone outside the doors as that is International - this takes forever as you can’t find each other. The guy says he can’t help with anything else as he just does luggage. He says it’s late and I’ll be luck to get upstairs for any customer service. Lady takes me through customs and tells where my luggage will be - I then had to go through customs?
in the meantime get a text that we are on a flight to YWG….. then realize it’s for FRIDAY! Not one person left for AC for any service. Lights our out and most people don’t know what to do. There are couples saying all hotels are booked and anything close by is $400.
We sat at the airport for the next 3 hours on hold trying to talk to someone - after 3 hours confirmed we are not leaving till Friday. Used my points for hotel.
AC is saying it was due to weather… to me that’s BS. Do I have a case?
I’m still worried about tomorrow as we are through YYC with a 35 minute layover!
In these instances, where you encounter cancellations and mis-connections at the time of travel the most important thing at that point is maintaining your comfort and sanity, which trust me is a real challenge, particularly when it's 1 AM and you are hungry, tired and been flying for the past couple of hours. In terms of checked baggage, unless I really need something from it, I'll generally just leave it at the airport, let the airlines sort that out. And if they lose it, great, I just got a shopping spree courtesy of Air Canada. The thing I care about is what flight am I being put on next and that's the sole thing I'll pursue with an agent first. It needs to be a date and time that works for me not the airlines. If they need to seat me in business class, so be it, they cancelled the flight so they'll have to eat the cost here. And if they try bringing up costs , I say well you shouldn't have cancelled the flight on me should you have? Once I get that sorted I'll try for hotel vouchers. My motto in all of this is if the agent isn't helping you move on to another agent be it at the Maple Leaf Lounge, the ticketing desk (at check-in) or over the phone. If all of that fails through I just say screw it, book a hotel and sort it out in the morning.
-RooFlyer88