donard

When we arrived at YYZ this morning with much more luggage than normal, we discovered that AC868 had been rescheduled from 9.10 this morning to 23,50.
They would not take our baggage from us. The agent was going to take the bags, but then someone walked around telling them not to take bags. She still labeled them, but we had to put them in storage (almost $30).

We came through security and are now in the lounge. We need to go out and pick up the bags and drop them off. One is oversized.

We are in economy, but I have *G with A3, Our ticked is an awards one bought with Mrs Donard's OZ (she is *S there) Asiana points. Asiana assigned and entered a FF number for me as part of the reservation process. Air Canada staff, both over the phone and at checkin were unable to change it, but did, somehow, manage to get my *G baggage allowance. My boarding pass shows *S

At various times there were references to our tickets being reward ones, with the suggestion that this means we should be treated differently. Specifically they said that we should contact Asiana to rebook. There are 3 other flights going to LHR before ours, but one of them is overbooked by 27 passenges (something I overhead)

There has been no consistent explanation for the delay, bu the plane seems to be held up in London for some reason. One person mentioned weather there, maybe on landing.

So questions - is AC entitled to treat passengers on reward tickets differently than paid for tickets, when they fail to have a plane available?

As far as EU compensation goes, do reward tickets count the same as others?

Again with regard to EU compensation, how long can AC claim "weather related" knock-on effects, especially when other flights are getting off OK?

Should they be doing anything for us - international phone calls, vouchers, payment for storage, etc ?

dr_torch

I can tell you the reason posted for the delay. I don't think it will help you much, but here it is:

RMKS/DLYD ALL ACCT FLEET CONSTRAINTS ON ROUGE B767S DUE AOG FINS

Now, I am no expert - but AOG indicates a maintenance problem while the Aircraft is on the ground in LHR?

D404

I'm not aware of a reason they can't (they shouldn't, in my experience). As precedent, BA started doing this recently.

Unfortunately, AC is not required to offer any EU compensation in this case, because it's not departing from the EU, and is not an EU carrier. If this was LHR-YYZ, though, they would.

For the record, though, award tickets are explicitly covered by EC261.

Very odd that it mentions Rouge, considering this is a mainline B789 flight.

YOWCDNFF

Close enough, it seems to suggest a problem with the Rouge 767 fleet. I suspect that to make up for this, they have to use some mainline widebodies, creating a shortage of planes for mainline. (AC868 is operated on a 787). The other problem with AC868 is that if it is delayed by 2-3 hours, they then have to deal with curfew issues in LHR and have to further delay the flight to a much later departure to arrive sometime in the morning (post-curfew)

IluvSQ

I see the same comment on EF, but it makes no sense - this is a mainline flight,
not a Rouge flight. And it is a 787, not a 767. I do see that every other flight to LHR today is sold out,
including connections via YOW or YUL.

EU 261 does not apply as this flight is departing from Canada on a non-EU carrier.
That said, AC does owe you meal vouchers, and perhaps hotel vouchers if
the delay drags on further than scheduled.

One other thing - a reward ticket is exactly the same as a revenue ticket in
terms of rights.

ChrisA330

Sounds like the aircraft scheduled for this flight was rescheduled to do a rouge mission as a result of issues with the RV 767 fleet.

Are you now in the International lounge? There is no way to exit International departures. You'll need someone to get you access to the Arrivals level and will need to go through Customs & Immigration to exit and drop your bags.

In theory AC should not be treating you differently, but they frequently seem to get their knickers in a twist when it's an OAL ticket.

donard

We have been told we can exit as if we were arriving in Canada, and then take our bags from the commercial storage facility and check them in again with AC. This can be 4hrs or less before departure.

The next problem I forsee is getting back through security, as they will already have scanned our boarding passes. Hopefully I will remember to ask for new ones

AC has given us food vouchers - $40 for me, $45 for Mrs Donard - she must have looked hungrier. They also offered us a connection through St Johns which would have got us in a couple of hours earlier - we preferred to stay with the direct one.

IluvSQ

The St. John's flight is a 319 - no lie flat seats!!!
Good that you did not accept.

ChrisA330

Looks like the B789 is being sent to LAS. AC2051 en route currently.

D404

Good thing you read the post fully and remembered OP is in economy.

cvkyyz

I think they are having problems with the Rouge 767s. The noon LAS-YYZ flight for today was swapped from a Rouge 767 to a Mainline 789.

Edit: ChrisA330 beat me to it!

arf04

OP said they were in economy. In Y the 319 is going to be more comfortable than a 789 for most people. I've done the YYT flight in Y and it's pretty decent.

This is is a case where calling the AC phone agents to get switched might have been helpful, especially armed with flights you want. Sucky situation!

YYC009

No need for new boarding passes. You can scan them as many times as you want

And be glad they didn't accept your bags before 4hrs... that is how bags go missing as there is no good place in the baggage system for bags for flights that leave ~12hrs away. I would submit the receipts to Customer Relations though.

oblender

Apparently the issue with this flight is the inbound aircraft is from AC 101 which is not scheduled to land until 9:36am from YVR and cannot turn around to make in to LHR before the curfew forcing it to be rescheduled to 23:50 tonight.

ChrisA330

AC101 is YYZ-YVR. It's scheduled to arrive at 9:36 in YVR, not YYZ.