I had a flight SFO-YYZ-YHZ last week in J. YYZ-YHZ was cancelled due to unplanned maintenance and I was rebooked 2 days later. Luckily the concierge was able to get me on a flight the next morning.

I decided to fill out the compensation claim form. Air Canada has added a new self-serve eligibility tool. Based on how it is implemented, I think they have intentionally created a bit of a smoke screen for the average passenger.

When you enter your ticket number, it does not use your historical flight booking to calculate flight eligibility, it uses your rebooked flight which by definition succesffully flew and had no cancellation. In my case it says that my flight the next day went on time so I do not have the ability to make a claim or file their form.

I think a lot of customers would hit this dead end and feel an appropriate assesment has been made and they are not eligible.