Jan 27, 2020, 3:42 pm
Last edit by: Adam Smith
Key points of AC COVID change/cancellation policy [as of December 10, 2021]:
(see this page under "Changes and cancellations")
Unlimited changes. No change fees. – Until December 31, 2021, if you want to change your flight, we'll waive the change fee. After December 31, 2021, you can make one change at no extra charge. If your new fare has a higher price, you only need to pay the difference from your original fare.
If Air Canada changes the time of your flight, you make a change for free.*
*Within 3 days for North American destinations and 7 days for international and sun destinations.
If your flight is cancelled, you get a refund – If your flight is cancelled for any reason and we don’t rebook you on another flight that departs or arrives within three hours of your original departure or arrival time, or if we add a connection to your itinerary, you can request a refund.
Need to cancel? Save the value for future travel – If you need to cancel a booking, the full value can be transferred to an Air Canada Travel Voucher, which never expires and is fully transferrable, or converted into Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus. Refundable tickets are always refundable.
Flexibility with Aeroplan bookings – Until December 31, 2021, if you want to change your Aeroplan flight reward, we'll waive all change fees. After December 31, 2021, you can still make one change without a fee.
(see this page under "Changes and cancellations")
Unlimited changes. No change fees. – Until December 31, 2021, if you want to change your flight, we'll waive the change fee. After December 31, 2021, you can make one change at no extra charge. If your new fare has a higher price, you only need to pay the difference from your original fare.
If Air Canada changes the time of your flight, you make a change for free.*
*Within 3 days for North American destinations and 7 days for international and sun destinations.
If your flight is cancelled, you get a refund – If your flight is cancelled for any reason and we don’t rebook you on another flight that departs or arrives within three hours of your original departure or arrival time, or if we add a connection to your itinerary, you can request a refund.
Need to cancel? Save the value for future travel – If you need to cancel a booking, the full value can be transferred to an Air Canada Travel Voucher, which never expires and is fully transferrable, or converted into Aeroplan points with a 65% bonus. Refundable tickets are always refundable.
Flexibility with Aeroplan bookings – Until December 31, 2021, if you want to change your Aeroplan flight reward, we'll waive all change fees. After December 31, 2021, you can still make one change without a fee.
Master thread COVID-19/Coronavirus; travel waivers, route changes, AC impacts
Jan 31, 2020, 7:39 am
#151
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PHL, NYC, DC
Posts: 9,708
number of cases went from 19 to 27
looks more like a medical incident than coronavirus. Incidents require EMS/police typically involves removing the person of concern first before letting anyone off.
looks more like a medical incident than coronavirus. Incidents require EMS/police typically involves removing the person of concern first before letting anyone off.
There's a couple of videos there, but one of them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpRR_WMqFq4
is definitely an Air Canada plane, it looks like 9 across so I assume a 787, and it shows someone being taken off the plane on a stretcher by people wearing masks.
That said, I'm skeptical about the rest of the story for two reasons:
1) The video is dated Jan 29, now 2 days ago - and I assume that if multiple people were being held in quarantine in Toronto it would be on the news by now
2) They are taking the person off (on the stretcher) while all the other passengers are still on the plane. That looks more like the behavior that I'd expect if someone had a suspected heart attack - the plane pulls up to the gate, they ask everyone to stay seated, and the ill passenger is the first off the plane. If they really thought this was the coronavirus, then I'm skeptical that the best approach would be to wheel the infectious patient past as many other people as possible ... I would have thought they'd de-board the plane first.
So who knows (certainly not me), but my hunch is that this was an ill passenger being de-boarded (deported?
). It's not surprising to me that the first attenders are wearing masks and gowns, but that doesn't mean this was a coronavirus case. Seeing them dressed up like that may have scared the other pax, and maybe that's why this video got posted with the title that it did ....
is definitely an Air Canada plane, it looks like 9 across so I assume a 787, and it shows someone being taken off the plane on a stretcher by people wearing masks.
That said, I'm skeptical about the rest of the story for two reasons:
1) The video is dated Jan 29, now 2 days ago - and I assume that if multiple people were being held in quarantine in Toronto it would be on the news by now
2) They are taking the person off (on the stretcher) while all the other passengers are still on the plane. That looks more like the behavior that I'd expect if someone had a suspected heart attack - the plane pulls up to the gate, they ask everyone to stay seated, and the ill passenger is the first off the plane. If they really thought this was the coronavirus, then I'm skeptical that the best approach would be to wheel the infectious patient past as many other people as possible ... I would have thought they'd de-board the plane first.
So who knows (certainly not me), but my hunch is that this was an ill passenger being de-boarded (deported?
). It's not surprising to me that the first attenders are wearing masks and gowns, but that doesn't mean this was a coronavirus case. Seeing them dressed up like that may have scared the other pax, and maybe that's why this video got posted with the title that it did ....
Jan 31, 2020, 12:41 pm
#154
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 495
Was on the news last night and confirmed as non corona related.
Jan 31, 2020, 3:39 pm
#155
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
Part of the problem though is that my actual ticket starts like...next week, it's a multi month RTW haha. I can only assume changing it after starting a trip makes it a bit messier.
While I know I'm not touching Wuhan, many carriers are offering waivers for all of China, which i think is the right thing to do. We all know the Chinese reporting of this will be spotty at best, and it's also not likely to just disappear in the next two months. So I will be waiting for now to see if the waiver gets extended, but I might give them a call next week when I'm home just to see if they'd be willing to do it for me. I might even pay the $150 if I can swap to what I found. I shouldn't be allowed more than 24 hours in BKK, but I found a BKK-TPE J award that lines up perfectly with my TPE-SEA flight, except I'd be breaking the 24 hours rule in BKK by like 2 days. If they're willing to let that rule slide I'll probably pay the $150 out of an abundance of caution.
While I know I'm not touching Wuhan, many carriers are offering waivers for all of China, which i think is the right thing to do. We all know the Chinese reporting of this will be spotty at best, and it's also not likely to just disappear in the next two months. So I will be waiting for now to see if the waiver gets extended, but I might give them a call next week when I'm home just to see if they'd be willing to do it for me. I might even pay the $150 if I can swap to what I found. I shouldn't be allowed more than 24 hours in BKK, but I found a BKK-TPE J award that lines up perfectly with my TPE-SEA flight, except I'd be breaking the 24 hours rule in BKK by like 2 days. If they're willing to let that rule slide I'll probably pay the $150 out of an abundance of caution.
Where they did do me a favour was in this case I got a 3rd stopover as I was supposed to go BKK-CAN-WNZ-TPE and the reason for the routing was lining up <24 hour layovers to get me to my TPE-SEA flight and to try and fly ZH, which I'm bailing on again now. Nice of them to do that for sure.
If this waiver extends to the surrounding provinces (which I expect it will) I'll feel a little stupid for having paid the $100, but I didn't wanna lose the J availability from BKK-TPE, so it's not the end of the world.
Lesson is, call and ask, you might not get the answer you want, but you might get an acceptable answer.
Jan 31, 2020, 10:51 pm
#157
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: USA
Programs: AC SE100K, F9 100k, NK Gold, UA *S, Hyatt Glob, Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 5,194
well, since US is quarantining even US citizens upon arrivalb for the first time in 50 years (if they have been in China), I expect alot more leniency on AC cancellations.
I had to cancel a weeklong Easter trip to Japan & Shanghai with a friend because he works for the US Gov't (FAA) and they just banned Asia travel for employees-even on personal time. They are not able to take a risk of essential employees being quarantined and unavailable to report to work at the end of the vacation.
I had to cancel a weeklong Easter trip to Japan & Shanghai with a friend because he works for the US Gov't (FAA) and they just banned Asia travel for employees-even on personal time. They are not able to take a risk of essential employees being quarantined and unavailable to report to work at the end of the vacation.
Jan 31, 2020, 11:26 pm
#158
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Vancouver
Programs: Aeroplan, Mileage Plus, WestJet Gold, AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,026
Each coupon (segment) has some dollar value. It usually shows up at the bottom of the ticket. So yes, if they refund that part of the ticket they can figure out how much to give you.
Feb 1, 2020, 8:48 am
#159
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: Bottom feeder Star Gold
Posts: 2,652
Amazing how the hysteria continues. AC didn’t suspend its China flights because of their concerns of public health.
They didn’t suspend due to any government requests to do so, nor any border closures.
They didn’t suspend because they had a lack of crews willing to staff those flights.
They suspended the flights only because nobody was taking them due to fear. The last couple of Dreamliner departures from YVR contained only 40-50 passengers. AC’s decision was purely a (insufficient) revenue generated one. In other words, the customers suspended the service, not the airline.
Feb 1, 2020, 10:11 am
#160
Join Date: May 2015
Location: Vancouver
Programs: Aeroplan, Mileage Plus, WestJet Gold, AMEX Plat
Posts: 2,026
From an AC flight on the 29th? Canada has only four confirmed cases, none of which seem to have originated from the incident in question.
Amazing how the hysteria continues. AC didn’t suspend its China flights because of their concerns of public health.
They didn’t suspend due to any government requests to do so, nor any border closures.
They didn’t suspend because they had a lack of crews willing to staff those flights.
They suspended the flights only because nobody was taking them due to fear. The last couple of Dreamliner departures from YVR contained only 40-50 passengers. AC’s decision was purely a (insufficient) revenue generated one. In other words, the customers suspended the service, not the airline.
Amazing how the hysteria continues. AC didn’t suspend its China flights because of their concerns of public health.
They didn’t suspend due to any government requests to do so, nor any border closures.
They didn’t suspend because they had a lack of crews willing to staff those flights.
They suspended the flights only because nobody was taking them due to fear. The last couple of Dreamliner departures from YVR contained only 40-50 passengers. AC’s decision was purely a (insufficient) revenue generated one. In other words, the customers suspended the service, not the airline.
Feb 1, 2020, 2:34 pm
#162
Suspended
Join Date: Sep 2014
Programs: AC SE100K-1MM, NH, DL, AA, BA, Global Entry/Nexus, APEC..
Posts: 18,877
QUOTE:
"CUPE, which represents Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants, said it would not comment on the matter. But an internal memo sent Friday to its membership and obtained by CBC News speaks to concerns about the safety of flight attendants."
Full article
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates...reak-1.5448946
.
EDIT TO ADD:
Since the CBC published an AC memo to cabin crew, I'll post it here. Mods are free to delete it.
"CUPE, which represents Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants, said it would not comment on the matter. But an internal memo sent Friday to its membership and obtained by CBC News speaks to concerns about the safety of flight attendants."
Full article
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates...reak-1.5448946
.
EDIT TO ADD:
Since the CBC published an AC memo to cabin crew, I'll post it here. Mods are free to delete it.
Last edited by 24left; Feb 1, 2020 at 2:59 pm
Feb 1, 2020, 4:12 pm
#163
Join Date: May 2012
Location: BKK/SIN/YYZ/YUL
Programs: DL, AC, Bonvoy, Accor, Hilton
Posts: 2,920
Air Canada's unions have been responsible and decent about this issue. Once it was established that this was an infectious deadly disease expanding exponentially, workers had a reason with which to decline working the Chinese routes. Cleaners also had a right to decline to work on aircraft which may have held carriers of an infectious disease. IMO, AC employees and contractors were about to refuse to work the China route aircraft.
The fact that Canadian government and Air Canada have lagged behind the international community is IMO politically motivated. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Canadian authorities were using the term "no human transmission", until they could no longer deny the reality and have since changed their statements to "no human to human transmission in Canada", which is an empty statement and may explain some of the public confusion. The point being that political motivations should not be taken as positions based upon actual fact.
The fact that Canadian government and Air Canada have lagged behind the international community is IMO politically motivated. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Canadian authorities were using the term "no human transmission", until they could no longer deny the reality and have since changed their statements to "no human to human transmission in Canada", which is an empty statement and may explain some of the public confusion. The point being that political motivations should not be taken as positions based upon actual fact.
Last edited by tcook052; Feb 1, 2020 at 6:39 pm Reason: off topic
Feb 1, 2020, 10:42 pm
#164
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: YVR
Programs: Bottom feeder Star Gold
Posts: 2,652
Air Canada's unions have been responsible and decent about this issue. Once it was established that this was an infectious deadly disease expanding exponentially, workers had a reason with which to decline working the Chinese routes. Cleaners also had a right to decline to work on aircraft which may have held carriers of an infectious disease. IMO, AC employees and contractors were about to refuse to work the China route aircraft.
The fact that Canadian government and Air Canada have lagged behind the international community is IMO politically motivated. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Canadian authorities were using the term "no human transmission", until they could no longer deny the reality and have since changed their statements to "no human to human transmission in Canada", which is an empty statement and may explain some of the public confusion. The point being that political motivations should not be taken as positions based upon actual fact.
The fact that Canadian government and Air Canada have lagged behind the international community is IMO politically motivated. This is demonstrated by the fact that the Canadian authorities were using the term "no human transmission", until they could no longer deny the reality and have since changed their statements to "no human to human transmission in Canada", which is an empty statement and may explain some of the public confusion. The point being that political motivations should not be taken as positions based upon actual fact.
You say "IMO, AC employees and contractors were about to refuse to work the China route aircraft." I'm afraid your O is wrong. Right until the final day of PVG/PEK service, crews, cleaners, groomers etc had no issues working on board the aircraft that served China. The B789 that returned from PEK (or was it PVG, I can't recall) spent the night parked on a remote stand in YVR, then flew to YUL and onto BRU. There was no issue of employee/contractor reluctance to touch the airplanes. All throughout the earlier stages of the outbreak, the PVG/PEK planes returned to Canada and then departed for destinations around the world. There is no such thing as a "China route aircraft" within an airline as large and with as many routes as Air Canada. As I stated in an earlier post, the reasons to suspend the China routes were purely economical and not due to actual or imminent employee action.
You mentioned political motivation. This entire outbreak deserves calm, measured, effective response, but has been subjected to political motivation by Chinese and local governments, governments in foreign countries and the WHO itself. The desperate need to be seen "doing something" has resulted in border closures, mobility restrictions and suspension of basic services to tens of millions.
I can't wait to see what happens when our government announces where the upcoming Wuhan rescue flight will land and what will happen to the returning citizens. YVR and YYZ are the government's top two choices for the plane to arrive, although I believe each airport is lobbying for Trenton to be the landing spot. Anyway, what will you do if the 160 people land in your city? What will you demand in terms of imposed screening, quarantine, detention or restrictions?
On thing we do know: they won't return on an AC plane, so there's that to ease some frayed nerves.
Feb 2, 2020, 6:14 am
#165
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: PHL, NYC, DC
Posts: 9,708
I wonder practically how those hand washing water bottles will be administered... whoops I spilled a bottle or used too much at once. Perhaps one cup per use at a time?
surprised that let them fly so long without water. I would think they ‘top up’ enroute like Anchorage.
regardless of coronavirus or not and what AC management thinks about it, running out of water, hand sanitizer and wipes for such long flight can be reported as health & safety hazard
surprised that let them fly so long without water. I would think they ‘top up’ enroute like Anchorage.
regardless of coronavirus or not and what AC management thinks about it, running out of water, hand sanitizer and wipes for such long flight can be reported as health & safety hazard
QUOTE:
"CUPE, which represents Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants, said it would not comment on the matter. But an internal memo sent Friday to its membership and obtained by CBC News speaks to concerns about the safety of flight attendants."
Full article
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates...reak-1.5448946
.
EDIT TO ADD:
Since the CBC published an AC memo to cabin crew, I'll post it here. Mods are free to delete it.
"CUPE, which represents Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flight attendants, said it would not comment on the matter. But an internal memo sent Friday to its membership and obtained by CBC News speaks to concerns about the safety of flight attendants."
Full article
https://www.cbc.ca/news/investigates...reak-1.5448946
.
EDIT TO ADD:
Since the CBC published an AC memo to cabin crew, I'll post it here. Mods are free to delete it.