Originally Posted by boymimbo
With 882 being a 2255 departure, and it going mechanical after leaving the fate, it was likely midnight by the time the pax got off the plane. Trying to find hotel rooms at midnight for 198 paxs and arranging the logistics would have been nightmarish at best.
But $100 compensation is low-end. The hotel, transportation, and overtime incurred would have come out to well over that per passenger.
My wife is still in Paris, but is due back tomorrow night, so I should be able to get a better time line when we have a chance to talk about it.
However, from what she told on the phone, there was a delay pushing back because they had to find another pilot (I'm not sure why). Then they taxied away from the gate, detected the glitch, and taxied back. I don't know when the passengers where deplaned or how long it took them to determine that they weren't going to re-board until 9-ish the next morning, but I do know that my wife called me at 3 am YYZ time to tell me that AC had announced a 9 am departure. It was probably one of those creeping issues of uncertainty involving the length of time to repair the aircraft, crew hours, and then the availability of both a replacement plane and crew. Notwithstanding AC's policy on this kind of thing, getting 200 or so people from the IFT to hotels at 3 am and back in time for a 9 am departure would have been an interesting challenge.
There is a further bit of irony to all of this. My wife and duaghter were both booked in S on that flight. My daughter's flight from YOW to YYZ was cancelled due to the thunderstorms in YYZ that afternoon and evening. When I re-booked her, AC moved her to J on the YUL-CDG flight the next evening.
I gather from their e-mails that they are having a good time in Paris and spending lots of money, despite their getting off on the wrong foot. I'm hoping the AC 883-618 combination goes smoothly tomorrow.
