RangerNS

I think the pricing model still is in favor of the hotels. But either way, AC has negotiated with specific hotels, not is just offering rooms anywhere. The food chits are for any airport restaurant. (which might be a lease requirement? Or maybe it actually means "any restaurant you can convince to take this").

Reading a $10 one I have in my bag "This voucher represents our contribution towards a meal....". Maybe AC (and all airlines) should "pay for a meal", but what they are doing is paying for (some of!) the difference between a meal outside an airport and a meal inside an airport. You have to eat anyway. They are compensating you for the delta of having to eat in an airport.

canadiancow

But if I'm supposed to fly somewhere and land at 1930, there's a chance I can go home, cook something in my fridge, and eat that.

If I'm delayed 3 hours, I'm now going to be too tired to make food at home, so while I have to eat anyway, I didn't have to eat out until the flight was delayed.

That being said, status (and maybe cabin) plays a role in the size of your voucher. I didn't fully understand this until two SEs and a P25K suffered a mechanical delay, and I think we received 2x$25 and 1x$15 or something like that. We commented on it, and the agent very explicitly said "it's because you two are Super Elite". The no-status amount might have been $10. I'm not saying I necessarily agree with this (though I'll take the $25, thanks), but they clearly have rules in place that dictate certain passengers are more deserving than others.

RangerNS

I'm just theorizing to what their theory is.

I will note that $15 inside is better than 4 hours of pretzels if you get delayed on the tarmac.

knit-in

Fair enough. In that case, what the airline is providing is a discounted meal, and passengers should be prepared to bear the cost of foreign exchange fee etc. on an international location where you're not carrying the local currency, in order to pay the difference. Works for me, because I carry several foreign exchange free credit cards, but not a lot of people do-- case in point, the OP's colleague.

I'd imagine making it a larger amount that actually covers the cost of an airport priced meal would go a longer way in customer service. As it happened, the money spent earned them more bad publicity on top of an already dodgy airline experience.

FlyerTalker70

AC seems to be very inconsistent with this. As a UA Gold (and hence *A Gold) I was appalled that all they would give me was a $10 voucher. When I had an IRROPs on UA they gave me 3 $20 USD meal vouchers. I would have been more grumpy if I didn't have lounge access due to my status (and could thus carb load on food and beer while I waited). That being said I did get an OPUP to J due to a full cabin (and likely due to my *A status).

On a side note, the title of this article completely summarizes the 2017-2018 season for the Leafs (in particular the last game vs Boston). Go Jets Go!

Safe Travels,

James

Stranger

I would argue AC pays what they think their customers would normally spend for a meal.

CZAMFlyer

And then there's the opinion that airlines shouldn't have to contribute towards a meal at all. They are a mode of travel, not a catering service. It's nice they feed us onboard - particularly necessary on a long haul flight - but I never understand the expectation of receiving a hot breakfast in J when flying YVR-YYC, or YYZ-YUL; nor do I understand why passengers render themselves so helpless during IROPS that they starve if not handed a meal voucher.
It shouldn't matter in which airport (and in which currency) you find yourselves - when you travel, leave home armed with the means to obtain the necessities and/or comforts of daily life. Always consider the possibility of a disruption in your plans.
It's certainly appreciated when handed a voucher during a delay. If there are no decent or reasonable dining options available within the terminal, that's the fault of the airport, not the airline tenant. If you failed to bring along a contingency protein bar or similar snack for those stranded-overnight scenarios, well...

jc94

On those shorter routes you get fed in J only; that's a perk of the J experience.

While it's good to take along a snack, just be prepared to declare/lose/drop it before going through customs
Of course, $10 isn't that bad when you consider what AC probably spends on the food... Certainly in Y.

canadiancow

Which is funny because as AC*G on UA in Y, I had enough bad experiences (cancelled flights, long delays, etc.) with absolutely no vouchers at all that I mostly gave up domestic flying.

Airlines treat their own elites better than partner elites.

flybit

Naturally, why would you expect anything else?

AC however is very generous on handing out compensation for the deflating J seats. I am pretty sure they are charging back the manufacturer, perhaps AC learned its lesson after the crap IFE system they bought years ago.

knit-in

Only for the customers to find out that there aren't any free lunches.

Fiordland

Absolutely the hotel wins with these discounted rooms to AC. If is late afternoon or evening (when most of these vouchers are given out) if the hotel has an empty room, it will likely be empty the entire night. The hotel has already staffed assuming a full house, so any incremental sale even at a discount is a win-win for them. It also lets them fill rooms without putting at risk the rates being payed by customers that have obtained their room through other channels.

In the case of the meal voucher, it should clearly be more. I think the thing is you need a vendor willing to do through the process of collecting it and them submitting the voucher back to AC and waiting to get paid.