Good afternoon,

Would any of you be kind enough to let me know if I'm banging my head against the wall in attempting to get compensation for my elderly parents in the following situation? We are US based and I don't typically fly AC or *A carriers.

Briefly, 2 pax on AC 893 from FCO-YUL on 6/26. Delayed due to mechanical problems on the inbound aircraft, which is in the control of AC. The flight arrived in YUL too late for the passengers to make their connecting flight to MIA, AC 1208. AC housed pax on 6/26. Due to a number of other missconnected passengers, AC was unable to transport my parents to MIA until three days later (6/29; three flights via YUL-YYZ on AC and Delta flights YYZ -ATL & ATL-MIA.

AC denied compensation under the carrier's contract of carriage for extreme delays: $1000CAD per passenger, because 893 was delayed less than 3 hrs. I wrote in demanding compensation for out of pocket food, transport and hotels for the three days in Montreal and was again denied for the same reason. They told me to claim on travel insurance, which is crazy because it was a delay in their control. Out-of-pocket expenses incurred: 830.52CAD.

What do I do? Keep demanding comp? I can't figure out whether the EU reg applies or if there is a Canadian equivalent. Small claims? Thank you for insight.