Question: Misconnected at YYZ, full of confused people, no help, can't get thru, what to do?
Jun 30, 2019, 12:13 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,965
Misconnected at YYZ, full of confused people, no help, can't get thru, what to do?
So, my transborder flight into YYZ got delayed about 2.5 hours tonight so I missed my connection at YYZ. I am not sure what the cause was. It seemed they swapped aircraft so the plane into my airport was delayed even in the morning (and kept pushing back).
1 - Onboard (Rouge), FA said ground would take care of it and rebook. Of course, that did not happen
2 - GA meeting the flight said go to the connection desk
3 - Connection desk gave me hotel and meal vouchers but could not rebook (no reason given) - plenty of availability but could not book
4 - Went upstairs and found 2 agents. She said they cannot rebook without ticketing and ticketing was closed (this was about 1 AM Eastern)
5 - 888 number would not even put me on hold - too busy (other numbers just lead to long wait)
6 - My PNR shows only my first flight, my connecting flight has disappeared
I consider myself a pretty experienced traveller and I am UA *G.
I guess a lot of people misconnected tonight. Is YYZ usually this bad with IRROPs handling? How can agents not able to rebook passengers?
So, I guess I just go back to the airport in the morning and try to rebook?
Thanks.
1 - Onboard (Rouge), FA said ground would take care of it and rebook. Of course, that did not happen
2 - GA meeting the flight said go to the connection desk
3 - Connection desk gave me hotel and meal vouchers but could not rebook (no reason given) - plenty of availability but could not book
4 - Went upstairs and found 2 agents. She said they cannot rebook without ticketing and ticketing was closed (this was about 1 AM Eastern)
5 - 888 number would not even put me on hold - too busy (other numbers just lead to long wait)
6 - My PNR shows only my first flight, my connecting flight has disappeared
I consider myself a pretty experienced traveller and I am UA *G.
I guess a lot of people misconnected tonight. Is YYZ usually this bad with IRROPs handling? How can agents not able to rebook passengers?
So, I guess I just go back to the airport in the morning and try to rebook?
Thanks.
Last edited by username; Jun 30, 2019 at 1:05 am
Jun 30, 2019, 2:16 am
#2
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: YYT
Programs: AC P25
Posts: 269
I’ve had the same experience and parked myself in front of any counter with an agent until they help me, or find someone directly (ie phone call) who actually is willing to help. Last time I was stuck in YYZ around midnight at least 4 staff told me to go elsewhere. Lots of staff but no one wanting to help. Start tweeting or facebooking pictures and stories of passengers in trouble might be your best bet if you have no luck on the ground. Tag anyone and everyone you like, might get called an attention seeker but really you desperately need attention from AC!
Jun 30, 2019, 7:19 am
#3
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YQR
Posts: 2,741
I’m sure I’m too late for you now, but my experience of these things (at YYZ in particular) is that the phone line is the way to go, especially late at night. Overnight, there seem to be quite a few people working who are not trained to ticket, and AC seems to make few to no allowances for IRROPS—no extra staff...
Jun 30, 2019, 10:07 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: May 2001
Posts: 10,965
Update...after trying to call the various numbers last night up until about 3:30 AM Eastern and 7:30 AM this morning, just could not get through (and did not want to keep waiting). Went to YYZ. Went to Area 1 first. The agent said all the rebooking would have to be done at the rebooking section next aisle.
How can this be? Even the elite agents could not rebook passengers? After some discussions, she did put me on the WL but could not confirm me to even a later flight (there were seats on the much later flight but we both thought we could get on (I was #2 on the WL). All the earlier YUL flights were sold out or oversold.
I went to the rebooking section. I got #174 and they were serving 100/101 with 2 agents. It was a zoo! I was just so confused by the crazy process so I grabbed a supervisor to ask him how could this be. He said he would come back and walked away.
Then another guy in suit walked by. I stopped him. He actually listened, took me to a counter and wondered why the agent did not send me to YTZ. He rebooked me through YTZ, gave me a voucher for the ride and I am eagerly awaiting my first flight out of YTZ
On my shuttle to YYZ to/from the hotel, heard a lot of strange stories. So many questions on what happened and what the rules Transport Canada has on cancellation, etc.. Will write more later. Thanks!
If you are stuck at YYZ, good luck!
How can this be? Even the elite agents could not rebook passengers? After some discussions, she did put me on the WL but could not confirm me to even a later flight (there were seats on the much later flight but we both thought we could get on (I was #2 on the WL). All the earlier YUL flights were sold out or oversold.
I went to the rebooking section. I got #174 and they were serving 100/101 with 2 agents. It was a zoo! I was just so confused by the crazy process so I grabbed a supervisor to ask him how could this be. He said he would come back and walked away.
Then another guy in suit walked by. I stopped him. He actually listened, took me to a counter and wondered why the agent did not send me to YTZ. He rebooked me through YTZ, gave me a voucher for the ride and I am eagerly awaiting my first flight out of YTZ
On my shuttle to YYZ to/from the hotel, heard a lot of strange stories. So many questions on what happened and what the rules Transport Canada has on cancellation, etc.. Will write more later. Thanks!
If you are stuck at YYZ, good luck!
Jun 30, 2019, 10:43 am
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,301
I’m sure I’m too late for you now, but my experience of these things (at YYZ in particular) is that the phone line is the way to go, especially late at night. Overnight, there seem to be quite a few people working who are not trained to ticket, and AC seems to make few to no allowances for IRROPS—no extra staff...
More like - if you are flying AC - good luck! (especially as you found out without status)
As for transport Canada rules on cancellations - there pretty much arent any. You are very fortunate to have gotten a hotel from AC without much hassle.
Jun 30, 2019, 10:54 am
#6
Join Date: May 2003
Programs: UA Silver
Posts: 1,931
If it’s any comfort, you are not alone in this corner of opinion space. My experience is that YYZ irrop recovery is shameful in general, at least at AC (possibly with WJ) and suffers from chronic understaffing; the agents are often overwhelmed and given overly narrow parameters and tools to do a proper job.
Looking back YTZ appears obvious but not to a harried skeleton staff facing long queues. One may rightfully ask if AC tried rebooking on WJ ex-YYZ but I would be surprised if this is in the playbook, whereas rebooking with the competitor is definitely in the cards in the US when US carriers are out of options. The other options would have been Porter or VIA trains from Union Station.
It seems you were “lucky” in getting a hotel voucher: it has happened at YYZ that generalized disaster struck and no hotel rooms were available. You were not so lucky with floor staff but herein lies the conundrum: some AC staff at YYZ are phenomenal while some are furiously unhelpful; I’ve also been rebooked by AC on itineraries where the final segment could not be booked by AC, and told to sort it “locally” (with LH in this case) once I reached another hub.
Looking back YTZ appears obvious but not to a harried skeleton staff facing long queues. One may rightfully ask if AC tried rebooking on WJ ex-YYZ but I would be surprised if this is in the playbook, whereas rebooking with the competitor is definitely in the cards in the US when US carriers are out of options. The other options would have been Porter or VIA trains from Union Station.
It seems you were “lucky” in getting a hotel voucher: it has happened at YYZ that generalized disaster struck and no hotel rooms were available. You were not so lucky with floor staff but herein lies the conundrum: some AC staff at YYZ are phenomenal while some are furiously unhelpful; I’ve also been rebooked by AC on itineraries where the final segment could not be booked by AC, and told to sort it “locally” (with LH in this case) once I reached another hub.
Jun 30, 2019, 11:12 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,803
To some extent the issue is related to the Max disaster, which had a big impact on AC and they deal with it as they can. A large number of flights end up grossly overbooked so there are large numbers of rebookings and large waiting lists. And overworked agents.
Jun 30, 2019, 12:08 pm
#8
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YQR
Posts: 2,741
I can’t speak to the Max issue, but I have had at least 3 situations in the past 2 years that were very similar to the OPs, with the exception that the phone lines were working (I was E50 and E75 in those days). In-airport support was dismal with crazy long lines and few agents. I was in paid J on one occasion, and by the third had simply bought OMY, which worked as expected—but the airport was a zoo! So, sure, not many examples, but nothing the OP describes surprises me, and that’s a sad state of affairs for a large company like AC.
Jun 30, 2019, 12:19 pm
#10
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: YQR
Posts: 2,741
I wasn’t as clear as I meant to be: at night the airport agents are either non-existent or useless so only the phone lines are an option. If they don’t work, then like the OP you’re SOL until the day shift arrives, which then requires huge amounts of patience.
Jun 30, 2019, 12:31 pm
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,301
Even small players like LOT and Icelandair (greater percentage of fleet grounded) are managing.
Incompetent mismanagement of the issue by AC is not a good enough excuse for the unmanned phones and airport desks. What did they thing was going to happen once summer travel picks up?
I dont know what would be worse, the fact they didnt plan for this, or that perhaps they did, and still failed miserably.
Jun 30, 2019, 2:19 pm
#13
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 104
I'm in a similar boat right now - AC128 was delayed over an hour last night, causing me and my family to misconnect to a transborder flight. I eventually got hotel and meal vouchers but the soonest I can get home is late tomorrow evening. Did something specific happen or is AC just have absolutely zero slack to recover from issues?
Jun 30, 2019, 2:31 pm
#14
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: UA Million Miler
Posts: 1,358
I had a departure from YYZ to DCA via connection from Europe. It cancelled and was the last flight of the night. There was literally no help, information, or service offered by Air Canada. As you can imagine, we were funneled for a while since in this case one must enter Canada (which I had not done previously since I connected from Europe). United gets a lot of flack but it makes me appreciate United given the really poor (really non-existent) service by Air Canada--truly the worst service performance I ever encountered by any airline.
Jun 30, 2019, 2:46 pm
#15
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: DTW, YQG
Programs: Wyndham Diamond, BW Diamond, Radisson Gold, HH Gold, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 4
Misconnects at YYZ is a nightmare, especially in the evening. Multiple agents suggested to drive or book another flight with a different carrier due to availability issues for the next flight. Mind you that I would be connecting to DTW or YQG, but the incompetence of some of the AC agents is astounding. In regards to vouchers for hotels and food, I have always had to fight for them. I haven't had an agent offer them to me without me saying anything.