alc

OP, first of all, I am not on either side, AC or you, but I do have a couple questions to hopefully can help you feel less frustrated.

I see AC 425 landed at 9:13pm and AC 42 delay the departure from 9:25pm to 10:00pm. So, my 1st question to you is, are you sure AC didn't delay AC 42 for you initially?

and my 2nd question is, if you, as a SE 1MM, has a very tight connection at DEL and contact SE Concierge in advance asking them if AC 42 will be delay so you can seek other option in advance, and the Concierge initially say no, but AC 42 got delay which arrived close to an hour late and you missed your connection. Will you also be frustrated as you are right now?

All I am trying to say is that while you might think they didn't try to accommodate you, but maybe they are also trying to accommodate others as well. They have to upset 1 or more PAX and decided to upset you at the end as it might be less affect overall in their mind at the time. These are all split sec (or min) decision sometimes.

yyznomad

Hi OP! Sorry to hear about your situation.

If it is of any consolation, this has happened to me before (as SE 1MM and 2MM) several times and AC decided not to hold the plane for me even though I could get to my gate relatively quickly after deplaning my late arrival ("hold" was subjective as like you, I felt that I still had time to board before the boarding cutoff). The concierges couldn't do anything more other than to put me on another flight, which was what I expected.

lallied

Happened time to me many times as well. Including closing doors and flight then sitting there for 20m before departure. And of course the next and final flight being cancelled. Must have BU plans and long stopovers to reduce chest pain. Or not fly in winter. Even with long stopovers sometimes have made by skin of teeth even with the BMW. In 22 years one beech waited for me once (or they kept doors open until T-5 (no actual delay) for which I was effusively grateful!

Plumber

Often1

AC requires passengers to be at the departure gate no later than T-15. OP was not. Therefore, he was off-loaded and the flight closed.

All the rest is irrelevant:
- Aircraft at YUL early.
- Captain and FO late.
- Delayed into YYZ

Yes, AC does occasionally hold flights. But, it is a decision made by Operations and the default is not to hold the aircraft. When it happens, that is great. When it does not, you have nothing to complain about.

OP twice speaks of what he was "offered" for a reroute. But, he is an experienced traveler and an SE. He should know what his options were and asked for them in order of preference and not relied on what some agent pulled out of his hat.

This was a risky connection in the first place and OP also did not do much proactively to figure out his options. Hence the lousy reroute.

Transpacificflyer

+1.
Buyer beware. The connection flight from YUL shows a chronic 30 minute delay. That should have been a red flag.

Jumper Jack

An AC flight left right on-time?
Is this black mirror?

ff123

Thank you to everyone for their useful comments.

It seems clear from almost everyone's opinion that I have been too harsh in my opinion about AC and Concierge service here. It is always good to get the perspective of others.

Stranger

Come on.

This is just a case of missing a connection. Unfortunate, bu a risk one takes when booking a tight connection and then there is a delay. They were at the gate way past the cutoff time. Admittedly not their fault, but you cannot expect the flight to be held for them, even though they occasionally hold a flight.

Not even an issue of concierge service. concierge can help but not holding a plane that long.

james dean

I usually try and do a 3 hour connection time on international flights, especially in the winter. The concierge can hold a flight, I hear they are the only one's, agent wise, with the authority (within certain parameters). The concierge always try to do their best but sometimes when asked to make "bricks without straw" doesn't work. In the SE 1MM world sometime you have to take the good with the bad, or vice versa..

Jebby_ca

I've had incredible experiences with concierges during tight connections, but I don't expect them to hold planes for me. For instance, one time I had 15mins to make an INTL > Domestic connection in YVR. Concierge met me at the gate, drove me to immigration, met me on the other side of security and drove me down to the AC Express gates. I made it to the gate just before the 10min cut-off time. I've had them meet me on arrival with new boarding passes for rebooked flights. And I've had them proactively rebook me before my initial flight as well, so I didn't have to worry about it at my connecting airport.

I think asking for a flight to be held is a bit much though, even though AC does hold flights for connecting passengers on occasion.

quantumofforce

This thread laments AC not holding aircraft .


Other thread complains about AC's on time performance.
Air Canada ranks dead last among large NA carriers for On-Time Performance, Again

We can be a little harsh sometimes

canadiancow

To be fair, the only reason "holding aircraft" was mentioned in this thread was BECAUSE of AC's OTP

RangerNS

Seems there are plenty (at least two) reasons for AC to pad their schedule, in particular, extending the last flights out of the hubs.

j_the_p

I'm with the OP. Concierge knew where (s)he was and that (s)he could make the cutoff. It's a radio to the DEL gate from the concierge that OP is off the plane and on his/her way. If OP was clearly going to arrive in YYZ after scheduled departure time of the DEL flight, then I get it. But not in this scenario (if the OP is accurate in their account of the details). I'm not going to admonish the OP for choosing a legal connection. Many times, (and very recently) I've had the last flight to YZF out of YYC held for a connecting passenger, and the last time it happened the pax boarded 10 minutes after scheduled departure. This wasn't a once-a-day international flight. Just my $0.02.