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[OVER 48 HOURS FROM DEPARTURE] AC changed/cancelled my flight. What are my options?

[OVER 48 HOURS FROM DEPARTURE] AC changed/cancelled my flight. What are my options?

Old Nov 25, 2021, 3:02 pm
  #76  
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 4
Wonder if anyone can offer some advice?

Booked flights from London to Costa Rica in April:
LHR > YUL > SJO
LIB > YUL > LHR

Original layovers were about 2 or 3 hours, but today the flights have all been cancelled and they're proposing new flights 10 and 15 hours layovers instead which are obviously completely unacceptable. The AC website gives me the option to choose other flights, but they're all terrible and there's no flexibility to change the route or even the date to see what else is possible. It's basically ballsed up our trip entirely.

Tried to get through to them, but they're so busy apparently that I can't even be put into a queue. As a side note, I've been calling the Aeroplan phone number as it's free on my UK mobile - the other number is an international number which is going to cost lots of s (or $$s!). Tried tweeting them too, but not much luck so far.

What are my options here?

Do I have any rights, or is it just a case of accepting a refund? There seem to be better connections if I change the routing to LHR > SJO return only, but the prices are now higher for more inconvenient flights. Will they put me on these, or will they try to get me to pay more? How do I get hold of them to even check?

Any advice appreciated!
SMcG_ is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2021, 3:39 pm
  #77  
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Originally Posted by SMcG_
Wonder if anyone can offer some advice?
With this being your first post, welcome to FT

The first thing I will suggest is please read the post immediately above yours, and some of the material linked/quoted there, as your situation is very similar.

Tried to get through to them, but they're so busy apparently that I can't even be put into a queue.
There has been a huge wave of schedule changes over the past couple of days, plus it's US Thanksgiving. Wait times can be bad anytime, but with your travel not until April, might as well wait a few days for this all to calm down.

What are my options here?
After consulting the above-mentioned information, find an alternate routing, call AC, and ask them to put you on it. They're almost certainly not going to put you on a BA non-stop, if such a thing exists, but by doing some research, you may find LHR-YYZ-IAH-SJO or something like that works reasonably well for you. And per my comments to the previous poster, you could try to argue for something like LHR-IAH-SJO, but it's a lot less certain they'll give that to you.

There seem to be better connections if I change the routing to LHR > SJO return only, but the prices are now higher for more inconvenient flights. Will they put me on these, or will they try to get me to pay more?
​​​​​​The policy says you can change to another airport within 200 miles, so if you want to swap LIR for SJO, that should be doable. Note though that the AC system only wants to let them make changes to cities that are considered "co-terminals", which usually means roughly in the same city. To illustrate, MIA and FLL are considered co-terminals, so you would generally not have a problem changing one for the other. The 200-mile policy should also allow you to change MIA for MCO, but most agents don't know that and will just say it can't be done when the system tells them they have to re-price. An agent may want to check with a supervisor for CYA purposes before doing it, or may not want to do it at all (and a supervisor may not know the policy and may not approve it). Which may require HUCA.

My highly confident guess is that LIR and SJO aren't co-terminals in the AC system.
Adam Smith is offline  
Old Nov 25, 2021, 3:55 pm
  #78  
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by Adam Smith
There has been a huge wave of schedule changes over the past couple of days, plus it's US Thanksgiving. Wait times can be bad anytime, but with your travel not until April, might as well wait a few days for this all to calm down.
Out of interest are you saying AC have made a huge wave of changes, or many airlines?

I gather also from what you're saying that there's no specific rush for me to accept a change, or a refund - is that correct?

Originally Posted by Adam Smith
After consulting the above-mentioned information, find an alternate routing, call AC, and ask them to put you on it. They're almost certainly not going to put you on a BA non-stop, if such a thing exists, but by doing some research, you may find LHR-YYZ-IAH-SJO or something like that works reasonably well for you. And per my comments to the previous poster, you could try to argue for something like LHR-IAH-SJO, but it's a lot less certain they'll give that to you.

​​​​​​The policy says you can change to another airport within 200 miles, so if you want to swap LIR for SJO, that should be doable. Note though that the AC system only wants to let them make changes to cities that are considered "co-terminals", which usually means roughly in the same city. To illustrate, MIA and FLL are considered co-terminals, so you would generally not have a problem changing one for the other. The 200-mile policy should also allow you to change MIA for MCO, but most agents don't know that and will just say it can't be done when the system tells them they have to re-price. An agent may want to check with a supervisor for CYA purposes before doing it, or may not want to do it at all (and a supervisor may not know the policy and may not approve it). Which may require HUCA.

My highly confident guess is that LIR and SJO aren't co-terminals in the AC system.
I'm avoiding the US entirely as I believe they require a test even when transiting, so don't want to add the cost, hassle and risk.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be able to exchange LIR for SJO given the connections are far better and it's AC to blame for my inconvenience, but who says I'll encounter reason.

Last edited by Adam Smith; Nov 25, 2021 at 4:10 pm Reason: Remove quote of deleted post
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Old Nov 25, 2021, 4:21 pm
  #79  
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Originally Posted by SMcG_
Out of interest are you saying AC have made a huge wave of changes, or many airlines?
AC. Lots of posts in the schedule updates thread about this the past couple of days.

I gather also from what you're saying that there's no specific rush for me to accept a change, or a refund - is that correct?
Correct. In theory, the earlier you make a change, the better the availability on alternative flights, but for flights that are 4-5 months away, a few days likely won't make much of a difference.

I'm avoiding the US entirely as I believe they require a test even when transiting, so don't want to add the cost, hassle and risk.
The US doesn't have the concept of transit the way that many countries do, so you'll be subject to whatever requirements apply to those entering the US. What those will be in April, who knows.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me to be able to exchange LIR for SJO given the connections are far better and it's AC to blame for my inconvenience, but who says I'll encounter reason.
On that point, at least, the policy is there to back you up - in black and white; no question as to what's "reasonable". My most recent experience with this, the agent was very helpful, and was willing to do it once she actually read the policy (initially she just put what I wanted in to the computer and it told her to re-price, and she knew about co-terminals but not the 200 miles), but she did need to read the policy and then wanted to go check with a supervisor.
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Old Nov 25, 2021, 5:07 pm
  #80  
 
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Just had my next 8 flights to YVR in Jan/Feb modified...I guess they pulled back the schedule.
Arriving the cancelled the morning flight, first flight is 50 min later...arrive at 720...not a big deal
My departing flight to YCD was at 1630, and is now 1310...so yeah, not much use flying in for work that day

Like above poster, can't even get in right now...won't let me change my flight online either as website is in and out...will try next week
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Old Nov 26, 2021, 4:45 am
  #81  
 
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I have a SFO-YYZ-LIS-MAD RT impacted by the most recent schedule change. Times changed by a few minutes here and there which is no big deal, but alarmingly our YYZ-SFO flight was changed from a 787 to a 737max. I would not have purchased these tickets without lie flats on all the AC segments. Do I understand correctly that AC will not refund in this instance? I see the morning flights are still lie flat, so would AC permit us an overnight in YYZ so we can retain the better product?

​​
work2fly is offline  
Old Nov 26, 2021, 10:57 pm
  #82  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 46
I'm also impacted by this, doing YVR-YYZ-DUB in January and they moved my YVR-YYZ flight forward by almost an hour and changed the equipment from 777 to A321 (looks like AC108 is not operating and I'm now on AC104). Been trying to load alternatives all day, don't want to accept this alternative.

As an aside, this was a pretty bad week to choose to do this with US thanksgiving.
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Old Nov 27, 2021, 3:58 am
  #83  
 
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Originally Posted by kalpol
I'm also impacted by this, doing YVR-YYZ-DUB in January and they moved my YVR-YYZ flight forward by almost an hour and changed the equipment from 777 to A321 (looks like AC108 is not operating and I'm now on AC104). Been trying to load alternatives all day, don't want to accept this alternative.

As an aside, this was a pretty bad week to choose to do this with US thanksgiving.
Especially given the pathetic IT and nowhere near enough customer support staff.

​​​​​​
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Old Nov 28, 2021, 8:32 am
  #84  
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Join Date: Jun 2010
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Misconnect Rebooking Policy

Im flying YYZ-YVR-PHX today, booked in Flex and confirmed in J for both legs.

The YYZ-YVR leg is running 1.5 hours behind due to weather-related ground delays at YYZ. I just received an email notifying me Ive been rebooked to YVR-SFO-PHX with the SFO-PHX leg on United in Economy (Q). Do I have any grounds to insist on Business since I was already confirmed in J?
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Old Nov 28, 2021, 8:35 am
  #85  
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Originally Posted by capedreamer
I’m flying YYZ-YVR-PHX today, booked in Flex and confirmed in J for both legs.

The YYZ-YVR leg is running 1.5 hours behind due to weather-related ground delays at YYZ. I just received an email notifying me I’ve been rebooked to YVR-SFO-PHX with the SFO-PHX leg on United in Economy (Q). Do I have any grounds to insist on Business since I was already confirmed in J?
You've used the term "confirmed in J" rather than "paid J". Did you eUpgrade? If so, no, they're not going to put you in J on UA.
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Old Nov 28, 2021, 8:38 am
  #86  
 
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Originally Posted by capedreamer
booked in Flex
Originally Posted by capedreamer
Do I have any grounds to insist on Business since I was already confirmed in J?
Not in North America.
​​
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Old Nov 28, 2021, 8:51 am
  #87  
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Originally Posted by YOWgary
Not in North America.
​​
Ok thank you.
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Old Nov 28, 2021, 12:42 pm
  #88  
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Originally Posted by YOWgary
Not in North America.
​​
not... Anywhere?

The only luck I've had with this was when I was booked in N on YYZ-SFO and they tried to pull some crap like YYZ-ORD-SFO in R/B. But even there, the solution was an obnoxious amount of time in the MLL, then YYZ-LAX-SFO in R/P.
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Old Nov 30, 2021, 2:23 pm
  #89  
 
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 4
Originally Posted by Adam Smith
AC. Lots of posts in the schedule updates thread about this the past couple of days.

Correct. In theory, the earlier you make a change, the better the availability on alternative flights, but for flights that are 4-5 months away, a few days likely won't make much of a difference.

The US doesn't have the concept of transit the way that many countries do, so you'll be subject to whatever requirements apply to those entering the US. What those will be in April, who knows.

On that point, at least, the policy is there to back you up - in black and white; no question as to what's "reasonable". My most recent experience with this, the agent was very helpful, and was willing to do it once she actually read the policy (initially she just put what I wanted in to the computer and it told her to re-price, and she knew about co-terminals but not the 200 miles), but she did need to read the policy and then wanted to go check with a supervisor.
Just wanted to say thanks and share my experience in case it helps others.

After discovering that I couldn't find any IP phone (i.e. Skype or similar) that would dial an international free number (++800 number) which AC use for their web reservations, I had to use my dad's landline as I don't have one myself. Expecting to have to have a long wait, I was pleasantly surprised to get through almost immediately and spoke to a great agent who was pretty helpful. The change from LIB to SJO on my return flight was immediately accepted with no issue, the outbound flight he gave me was reasonable - it was the best available on Air Canada's site in terms of timing though the 2nd leg is on Avianca.

Overall it wasn't so bad. Who knows if this will be the last change, but thought I would post my experience if even just to clarify that the LIB/SJO change wasn't an issue.
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Old Nov 30, 2021, 2:28 pm
  #90  
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Originally Posted by SMcG_
Just wanted to say thanks and share my experience in case it helps others.

After discovering that I couldn't find any IP phone (i.e. Skype or similar) that would dial an international free number (++800 number) which AC use for their web reservations, I had to use my dad's landline as I don't have one myself. Expecting to have to have a long wait, I was pleasantly surprised to get through almost immediately and spoke to a great agent who was pretty helpful. The change from LIB to SJO on my return flight was immediately accepted with no issue, the outbound flight he gave me was reasonable - it was the best available on Air Canada's site in terms of timing though the 2nd leg is on Avianca.

Overall it wasn't so bad. Who knows if this will be the last change, but thought I would post my experience if even just to clarify that the LIB/SJO change wasn't an issue.
Umm...

From https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...-numbers.html: 1 514 393-3333
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