tdiddy23

Got a response from Air Canada on this:

After investigation, we have determined that your flight was delayed/cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations. For example, crew may be required to isolate if they have COVID-like symptoms, have a positive COVID-19 test, or have been in contact with someone who tested positive to COVID-19.
As a result, since your Air Canada flight was delayed/cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, the compensation you are requesting does not apply because the delay/cancellation was caused by a safety-related issue.


They offered me $100

Advice? Can they can really claim that they pulled a pilot off a plane for another flight and say it was from COVID-19, and therefore is a safety related issue?

canadiancow

I don't like the compensation rules in general, but I think COVID is going to be a "too hard to argue" excuse for quite a while longer.

That being said, try https://rppa-appr.ca/eng/right/fligh...-cancellations

Bohemian1

At this point, seeing how often Air Canada plays the "safety" card (a slight variation on the dog ate my homework IMHO), I wonder if we've seen any circumstances where they agreed (proactively or not) to pay real compensation.

I'm hoping not to stimulate a discussion on the incredibly toothless air passenger protection legislation in general, but more about AC specifically.

Does anyone have an example of getting comp from AC, other than just goodwill comp?

Nitehawk

As I mentioned a few posts up, I received compensation. Only after I asked for it. Air Canada did not say it was as a courtesy or goodwill.

tdiddy23

Update

So I responded to ACs letter writing off the disruption. I asked if they could offer more than $100, inadequate for the ordeal etc, asked for at least $300 or significant discount code for international flight I need to book soon, saying otherwise I would have to formally appeal to CTA.

To my surprise I got a automayed response a few days later with a different customer service case # advising me that it was going to get $1000 which i juat depostied today.

When I initially wrote to AC I filled in a compensation for delayed flight form and wrote a letter of complaint about the whole experience. The case # corresponding to the delayed flight matched the $1000.

Now to complicate matter further, my travel companions who just filled in the delayed flight compensation received the same chain response blaming covid

I guess they should appeal to CTA, or maybe just fill out the form again? Is this the online equivalent of a HUCA situation?

yvr76

Is it even worth asking for compensation if there was a 6+ delay with mechanical issues listed? Or is that 100% guaranteed to be safety.

notanothersegment

apologies for hijacking this, but i couldn't find another thread that seemed approrpiate

i flew yvr to lhr earlier this week and on attempting to board (near the end of zone 1) was told that i had to have a new boarding pass printed. i was sent to talk to one of the gate agents who spent ten minutes ignoring me before handing me a boarding pass for 8k instead of 6k like i'd selected when i bought the ticket (J full retail, not an award or upgrade). i asked why i was being swapped and was told it was to accomodate a passenger with a disability. i don't really understand how 6k is better for someone with a disability than 8k, but okay sure. however, on boarding the person in 6k was one half of a couple who i'd seen have a loud argument with the gate agent prior to boarding about something. her partner was in 7k. i was kind of upset i'd been moved to a worse seat (8k has only one window not two, is next to the galley/lav and has only a half size luggage compartment) under the pretense of what i think was a straight up lie from the gate agent (they were already seated next to each other? i guess the passenger didn't want 8k either?) so i told the service director. he was understanding but had no open seats to move me to. he did get the gate agent onto the plane to explain to me the reason for my move but the gate agent just kept repeating that he was sorry but he couldn't move me to any other seat because boarding was final. about all he offered was to deboard me and put me on the next flight 90 minutes later but he couldn't guarantee seat selection until check in was closed. he said he would email customer service about a refund but i haven't received any communication from air canada

is it even worth emailing customer service about this? i care a little about paying full price for J and then getting downgraded to one of the worst J seats but i care more about the ...... customer service and being jerked around and lied to by a gate agent. what, if anything, are they likely to offer me?

as an aside i really like air canada's in flight product but their ground service has been godawful the last few years. they really need to step up training their gate agents and customer service agents

tdiddy23

I would say that as you've taken the time to post here why not copy and paste what you described and write to customer service?

I wouldn't be surprised if you got 100$ coupon for future travel or a 15% off base fare type offer. Heard of people complaining for less and getting this

thearmada

Was booked to fly a redeye from YVR to YYZ earlier this month on a 787 in J. Plane was swapped to an A321 (so no lie flat in J) and then the flight was eventually canceled.

Since it was a redeye cancellation, we needed a hotel for the night. AC was not able to get us a voucher for a hotel so e had to stay overnight in YVR ($500 CAD).

Submitted compensation availability request with AC and they responded with this:
After investigation, we have determined that your flight was delayed/cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations. For example, crew may be required to isolate if they have COVID-like symptoms, have a positive COVID-19 test, or have been in contact with someone who tested positive to COVID-19.

As a result, since your Air Canada flight was delayed/cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, the compensation you are requesting does not apply because the delay/cancellation was caused by a safety-related issue.

We understand that you may be disappointed and are sorry that we have not been able to get you to your destination at the arrival time originally planned.

As a goodwill gesture, we’d like to offer you a one-time discount of $100 off the base fare on your next booking at aircanada.com. Below, we have provided your eCoupon number and instructions on how to receive your discount. If you incurred expenses due to the disruption of your flight, please reply to this email and attach the receipts for our review and consideration.

We were rebooked to fly the next day in J with a nonstop to our destination (was not YYZ).

I requested a Flight Cancellation Statement so I can submit a Travel Delay Compensation Request with them since an overnight was needed.

Is it worth pushing AC for more $ or even better change the compensation to Aeroplan points.

Do backup crews not exist anymore? I should not have to pay for the hotel seeing as AC was not able to staff the flight regardless of COVID or not.

Joroy70

I got the same after missing my connections and been rerouted for a 2 layover flight instead of 1 and arriving 9h later and missing one day of a Wedding party

Malheureusement, le vol AC866 a été retardé pour un motif incontrôlable, soit des contraintes imprévues liées aux effectifs de l’aire de trafic imputables aux conséquences de la COVID-19 sur toutes nos activités.

Dans un tel cas, aucune indemnité en vertu du Règlement sur la protection des passagers aériens ne s’applique. Toutefois, à titre de geste de bonne volonté pour les désagréments subis, nous aimerions vous offrir une réduction ponctuelle de 25 % sur le tarif de base de votre prochaine réservation à aircanada.com. Les détails complets de votre code promotionnel se trouvent ci-dessous.

Norcanair

Passengers, advocates cry foul on Air Canada compensation

#gasp. This was completely foreseeable.

farnorthtrader

Not sure if this is the right thread, so feel free to move it if there is a better one.
Montreal to Edmonton flight AC335 on Saturday was delayed for more than 7 hours in rolling delays and then cancelled. We had booked 8 of the 12 business class seats (the final leg home on our trip from Casablanca). 2 people were rebooked for a 5 pm departure through Toronto yesterday (which also managed to be two hours late arriving in Edmonton, so 27 hours late), the other 6 were booked on a 9 am departure through Toronto today, so all in, for those 6, it was a 42 hour delay getting into Edmonton, all related to crew availability.
They have proactively sent a $500 eCoupon for each of the 8 passengers. I see this as trying to preempt a claim under the passenger rights legislation but maybe I am misreading it? it seems like we should be entitled to $1000 cash each plus reasonable hotel and food costs during the delay. Am I reading the situation correctly?

Ryan Harder

I’m returning from my Honeymoon in Europe for two weeks and we were flying home from BRU-YUL-ORD yesterday Sunday July 10 in J using aeroplan points transferee from Amex with taxes and fees paid on my American version of the Platinum card.

To start, on the BRU-YUL segment my wife’s seat was deflated from the start and needed to be reset 3or 4 times to get some padding (not all, but some was eventually available after a few different attempts my the flight attendant).

What was supposed to be a 1.5 hr transfer in Montreal was then complicated when we were not allowed to go through US customs because my checked bag was not found, and the Air Canada rep in the transfer area wouldn’t allow us through without my bag being found. During this time our flight to ORD was delayed for 45 min which we thought was a blessing at the time as it allowed for more time to find my bag. Eventually the AC rep saw that our flight to ORD was boarding on her system and filled out a lost baggage form to give to US customs and my wife and I ran to our gate.

Once at our gate we found the flight was not boarding and it was delayed for an unknown time (it said on the board that the flight was departing at a time 10 minutes in the past without boarding started). Eventually we got on the plane, taxied off, and approached the runway only for the pilot to say their was an engine oil issue and we would need to return to the gate for maintenance to have a look. We got back, outside the gate and we’re told there aren’t a lot of airport workers to tow us into the gate and will be a while (thankfully only 10/15min). After some time we’re informed that there needs to be an airplane swap and everyone’s getting off the plane.

There is then confusion on whether or not there are crews to tow over a new plane (there weren’t) and then there was no gate announcement however the gate changed so we walked over to wait another hour or so. After a while longer we’re informed that our flight is canceled (assume due to crew timing out since all of the delays) and I ran (literally) to the maple leaf lounge to get rebooked on the next available flight, nearly 30 hrs after the initial flights scheduled time Monday night at 6pm.

We were then told that we had to find a gate agent to let us out of the airside part of the terminal but none of them would allow it and kept telling us to go to different gates in a circular manor. After about 10 of us in a similar position started to loudly protest and cause a scene were we allowed through to clear Canadian customs and collect our checked baggage.

I still had no clue where my bag was, but it took about 2 hrs until my wife’s bag came out and we called it quits since I was already provided a lost bag tracking number.

I book a hotel DT Montreal since we would have the whole morning and Called it a night without any of my clothes/toiletries however the Vogue Hotel was very accommodating and provided me with many amenities.

Fast forward to this afternoon, after a smoked meat sandwich from Schwartz, we didn’t want to miss our flight so arrived 4 hours early and cleared customs again. At this point we were tracking the inbound flight from DCA and see it’s about 20 min late - no big deal. We’re at the gate and there is an aircraft pulled in but are told it’s not our plane and need to wait for workers to tow it out and the departure time gets pushed another 15 minutes. Another 30 minutes go by and no update, and we see our aircraft from DCA is sitting in a holding apron. Abruptly we receive notice that our flight is canceled through the app and txt message with no communication from the gate. We luckily ran and were first in line again in the Maple leaf lounge and are now are on the 11am to ORD tomorrow morning.

We were given meal vouchers for the airport but all of the restaurants kitchens were closing and we’re bar only. Thankfully I was able to book a room at the Marriott on site and fingers crossed were able to get out tomorrow after over 50 hours of delays in Montreal.

The most baffling part this evening? We received an excuse email from AC that our flight was cancelled due to OHare weather even though it was 100% due to no staff to open gates up/ferry an aircraft.

After all of these airport and air canada problems what is my best recourse for compensation? I overheard man at the airport say canada has protection laws that require the airline to reimburse. Am I better off going that route or should I look to Amex platinum for trip interruption insurance?

Apologize for the poor writing but I’m exhausted and only have my phone to type on.

I forgot to add the most ironic part - when at the lounge this afternoon I received a txt that my lost checked bag was delivered to my home and left on my front doorstep (confirmed by my ring doorbell). My “lost” bag arrived home at least 24 hours earlier than I will and I had to call a family member to go pick it up…

vernonc

That is absolutely the icing on the cake !!!

The Lev

Don't expect much in the way of compensation but you should at least get your hotel and meals covered along with some sort of "goodwill" discount code from AC. Will take a couple of months.