AC Agent "help" at screening line
 

At YYZ this morning in plenty of time for my 7am flight. Security line was crowded with a lot of morning flyers.
AC "representative" asks who is on 7am flight -- I, along with many people behind me in line, put up our hands, with a majority saying "7am to Calgary" - the same flight as mine.
She moves myself and the guy in front of me (7am to Ottawa) to another security line. Over the next 50 minutes, we watch in horror as everyone originally behind us in line whips through the original security line and off to their planes. By the time we get through security, my seat has been given to standby (and I assume the same for him), although plane hasn't left gate.
I am directed to customer service, where I complain that AC "help" made me miss flight. I am told "Sir, how are we supposed to know which line moves quickly?" to which I respond "EXACTLY!! -- THEN WHY ARE YOU MOVING PEOPLE AROUND IN THE LINES?" If there was no AC involvement, I'm on the 7am flight and hit my very important meeting in Calgary.
With AC's "assistance", I miss the 7am, the 8am is sold out, the "note" on my file to help me get standby on the 10am is worth the paperless ether it's written on, and I get on the noon flight -- 5 hours late.

Questions:
1. What is the legality of an airport staffer guiding people into different security lines in the first place? (FYI - she was probably 20 and clearly did not have any idea what she was "helping" with... all she did was guide me into the heavy security line where each bag was opened and searched. At customer service, the supervisor picked up the phone and I overheard her say "she doesn't know what to do up there, why is she there?").
2. No compensation, or even apology, offered. I had to request customer service contact info. I don't think the AC customer service staff thinks they're responsible for any issue, or as usual they just couldn't give a :D's :o
What is reasonable compensation for this?

PS -- only after I didn't get on the 10am flight and returned to customer service did anyone even bother to offer me a coffee.

Signed,
Ticked in Toronto
Combusting in Calgary

IMO lots! That's really dumb!!!! :td::td::td: Very sorry for you... :( Hope you could spend the time in the MLL... :)

Reduced travel significantly during economic dip and lost my status. Have 25k in status miles so far this year. Certainly wasn't offered by AC to spend my time in the lounge waiting, and now I seriously question whether I'll fly AC again (and how strongly I word my letter to our corporate travel department as well). I'll wait for AC's response to my complaint and update FT on the outcome.

Your wait may last 3 weeks... Sorry... :)

And I think two things should have happened here:
- As AC's fault, compensation for business lost (or whatever meeting was for)
- Bump to J, again because it is AC's fault
- AND some $300 cash to say sorry to you...

What time was this exactly? I usually arrive at YYZ a good 90 minutes before an early morning flight.

i usually get to the airport at 5:15am in time for breakfast :p

i see them doing that often at the transborder customs @ YYZ.... i'm going ...wat da?

those people came late and they get expediated....i come during the recommended times and have to wait 45 mins to get across?!

those late comers deserve to miss their flight if they cant get through the security on time!

as for OP, i totally agree, those agents are totally useless.... they just add insult to injury.... esp this one, made a dumb decision to put u in the wrong line and not following up on it afterwards

To newguy - was it impossible to hail the same AC rep to alert them that your line was moving so slowly that you might miss your flight?

I've seen late-comers get pulled towards the front of the line and wonder why I come early. I thought about coming a little later instead of waiting. I pity the frequent YYZ folks travelling to/from the US without a Nexus card though.

Nexus + Nexus domestic security line :)

Assuming you arrived at the airport in the recommended amount of time, I would say a $300-$400 voucher. How long were you actually delayed?

Airlines never guarantee getting you to a place at a particular time, if at all. So whether you missed a concert you needed to perform at or a meeting, airlines wont open themselves to the liability of compensating you for lost business. They maybe more generous depending on the situation but I would never expect it to come close to the amount you may of actually lost. If it was that important you probably should of flown in the day before.

What time did you get to the airport? Seems strange that you'd miss the flight if you were in the security line by say 6:10am. This is assuming you arrived at airport at 6:00am as per normal recommended time and didn't have a delay at check-in which I'm assuming you didn't since you didn't mention it.

I was PO'd at the YYZ connecting passengers US pre-screening line when they were doing the same thing last month. We were a little late arriving from YEG and I was hoping for enough time to at least use the washroom and maybe grab a sandwich before my flight to EWR, but the agents kept pulling ahead others and we made it to the podium to be the last two people on the plane.

Even more pity and aggreviating is when you hold a foreign passport... those stupid agents hold you aside at the front of the line and let other Canadians pass through for an additional 25-30 mins...... seriously, if they need to separate Canadian / Foreign Passport processing.... separate the lines but dont hold people back at the front of the queue.

YYZ has recently implemented a couple of lines in the middle of the screening area that are 100% inspection - you are supposed to be selected randomly to go to those lines. They are slow as molasses. Sounds like an AC employee tried to do the "right" thing but was likely unaware that she put you in the (very) slow lane.

Sorry for your misfortune!

For every one of these unfortunate situations there are probably ten where the only reason people made their flight was because of the intervention of an AC employee who moves people up in the line. I'd hate to see that go away.

I know, but this was because of AC's neglect... Not even an mech! :confused: