Did Air Canada tell you that they cover only up to CAD$100 for hotel?
 

Does the following sound familiar? Did you receive a message with such or similar information from Air Canada's customer service?

If so, you may have been shortchanged. According to Article 26 of the Montreal Convention, no airline can limit hotel or meal reimbursements like this.

We would like to hear from you.

Please post or send us copies of such emails from Air Canada.

No, I've always just been given an actual hotel voucher for a specific hotel that I exchanged directly for a room.

There was never any dollar amount discussed.

I'm also not sure we want/need ambulance chasers on FT.

Fighting for air passenger rights without any financial expectation or profit is a service to the community.

Like cow, I've just been handed a voucher for a specific hotel. I have no idea how much it cost AC.

As for the meals, what do you want, a blank cheque to go to a 3-star Michelin restaurant?

The airline is required to reimburse reasonable meal expenses. It depends on the airport. The same amount may get you nothing at one airport and quite nice meal at another.

Under the law, it cannot limit passengers to a fixed amount. The airline has to abide by the law.

What's reasonable? At any airport I've been to in Canada, $10 will get you a coffee and a muffin for breakfast, and a sandwich and or burger and drink or something like that for lunch/dinner. Seems fairly reasonable to me. It's not a steak and a couple of beers, but it's hardly outrageous and if you want to fight to improve life for airline passengers in Canada, there are far better things to focus your time on than the meal reimbursements.

The main issue is hotels. There are people who were not provided vouchers, but told to find accommodation on their own, and then Air Canada refused to pay the bill even though it was reasonable knowing the prices in the cities in question (e.g., London, Paris).

There were given a piece of nonsense about Air Canada covering only up to $100 for hotels. This is illegal. The airline is profiting from not paying what is owed to passengers. We already have some evidence, but the more such emails we have, the better.

Did you check what you get get for CAD$10 at Heathrow (LHR)?

No, when I have been affected by IRROPS on AC, they usually have given me a hotel voucher...

I've never had this issue with AC. Like others, I've always been handed a voucher. In YVR, I get put up at the Fairmont, so I've been very happy with the handing in IRROPS.

I agree that hotels are an issue worth pursuing.

As for CAD10 @ LHR, I've never been stuck at LHR and handed a voucher, so I don't know whether they give out the same thing there (which would surprise me), nor do I really spend time outside the lounge at LHR, so I don't know what things cost there.

We are in substantial agreement then.

There was a case - in the maritimes I think - that someone brought up here. IIRC, Ben L responded.

In that case, AC had no hotel vouchers, so have a $100 or something.

With all due respect, this is obfuscation in its purest form. It's hardly a secret that food allowances can be out of sync with reality, as can hotel room prices.

Doesn't take much effort for an airline knowing what things cost in and in the vicinity of airports it operates to. There may be better things to fight for, but they can all be dismissed as minor details if the automatic instinct is to declare that suggesting that $15 is unlikely to cover dinner at an airport is tantamount to asking for a Michelin starred meal.

Use Government (provincial, federal, whatever) meal or hotel allowances as guidelines if doing research is too demanding.

Interesting idea, but the law is even more favourable for passengers: the airline is simply liable for expenses incurred as a result of delay. Period and full stop. There is no expectation nor obligation for the passenger to find the cheapest hotel or restaurant. The airline will be liable as long as the expense is reasonable in the circumstances.

Obviously, when you are stranded, you do not have the time to find the best bargain.

I highly doubt AC is handing out CAD vouchers outside of Canada. Mostly because no store/restaurant would accept them.

I have always been given vouchers