Adam Smith

Since we seem to have a multitude of threads popping up where people are asking about or complaining about their flights being cancelled on or about the day of travel, we're going to borrow an idea from the AA forum and try consolidating these into one thread, so we don't have half a dozen of them cluttering up the front page.

Please note that if you have a question or complaint about schedule changes made in advance, there's a dedicated thread for that.

RatherBeInYOW

Starting to travel a bit more again, but haven't been following the forum so I apologize in advance if there is a better place to discuss this (I could not find an obvious thread).

In LAS this week after an adventure getting here last weekend (another story). I am supposed to fly home LAS-YYZ-YOW today on AC1852 to get home tonight, but two days ago AC abruptly rebooked me to LAS-YVR-YOW (redeye from YVR to YOW) to get home tomorrow morning. Wasn't really thrilled to be getting home nearly 12 hours later on a redeye so I called our corporate travel they could still see 1852 but it was all zeroed and unbookable, I could not book it directly on ac.com on a new itinerary (it didn't show up as an option, nor did the LAS-YYZ redeye tonight) and the concierge told me in an email "I have taken a look to see if the flight AC1852 if it is still in service, but couldn't find it. It seems to be a flight that has been cancelled.".

I'm checked in and heading to my LAS-YVR flight in a few hours. For fun I checked and AC1852 is in fact operating today (significantly delayed from AC1851 coming in) with space on it and it now shows as bookable again on ac.com as well. Given all of the AC issues in YYZ and the likelihood I misconnect in YYZ tonight and end up spending the night there anyway I'm going to stay on my YVR connection. But I can't for the life of me figure out why AC rebooked me off of AC1852 in the first place; clearly they did not do that to everyone if the flight is still running today. Are they trying to rebook connecting pax away from YYZ?

YYZC2

That LAS rotation is a 321 the vast majority of the time; today it is a 320. I’d wager that FIN swap played a role in your rebook.

RatherBeInYOW

Nice catch, I missed that. Although it is curious that a) they rebooked an SE, one would surmise that I'd be at the bottom of the list of people to rebook, b) the concierge couldn't see the flight operating at all. Although when I looked this morning it looked like there was space on the flight when I check now it looks very full.

nomadic.relief

Unless the SE service is to rebook you anywhere that does not include YYZ.

HometoYYZ

Was on 1852 last night. Interestingly, it was still showing a 321 (with 16 J seats) until after the scheduled inbound (1851) was delayed. It looks like, from watching the app, that 1851 needed a new aircraft (just like it did when I took it down to Vegas on Monday, although that time it was a swap from a 12J 321 to a 16J 321) and a 320 got the job.

Needless to say, we left some folks behind, who maybe (hopefully?) got the redeye home instead.

1852 ended up being quite late, and then we waited about an hour to get a free gate. Ended up getting off the plane four hours behind schedule -- an improvement over the 4.5 on the way down.

At least Nexus customs was quick and painless at that late hour.

But it makes me wonder. It sure looked from app-watching (AC app, FR24) that they were planning on yesterday's 1851 to be a 321, right up until it hit delays. Then it got switched to the 320 that ultimately flew it. But then, OP being proactively rebooked suggests they knew something was up a couple of days in advance.

RangerNS

Only that YYZ is a dumpster fire this month. So I think OPs initial theory of "rying to rebook connecting pax away from YYZ" is the most correct, absent any specific flight cancellations, downgaging, etc.

bustedTravler

Anyone know why AC873 was canceled June 17th?

Cheers
BT

YOWCDNFF

According to AirCanada, weather. Thursday was a tough day at Pearson (although not as bad as YUL)

FlyerGoldII

My wife and mother in law were on that flight. It was supposed to leave at 1:30 pm- eventually it left at 8:00 pm.

There were rolling delays.

My wife could gather that part of the delays related to a mechanical issue with the plane; leading to both a plane change and a crew change.

Anyone have any more information on the reasons for the delay? And why numerous rolling delays?

Bohemian1

Expertflyer would seem to agree with at least some of that:

WildcatYXU

I'm not traveling today (as a matter of fact I'm not even in YXU), but I have a son on that flight. Hoping to connect to AC880. Slightly above 2 hours seemed like reasonable connecting time.
He arrived to the airport very early - he's saying that with his usual bad luck he has to do it even at YXU. He cleared security and is still waiting. It is 61 minutes past scheduled departure now.
As usual, AC was increasing the "scheduled" delay time. The biggest shock came after the inbound flight arrived. They announced that they don't have a captain...
So, with all the delays, they don't have a crew member available? How's that possible? The flight is boarded, but is sitting on the tarmac. And the clock for the connection at YYZ is ticking.
I don't know, it is becoming too much. How can we plan travel under conditions like this? Drive to YYZ and join the crap show there? The 401 isn't exactly predictable either. Switch to another airline? There's none...

EdmFlyBoi

Well Pearson is a disaster today so nothing is leaving on time from YYZ. The airport is so disorganised - they have people deplaning through a gate where they are trying to board an aircraft. It’s total mayhem.

D404

This is just how YYZ operates currently. No amount of planning will help you avoid regular 3-4 hour delays (regular as in almost every flight (the same flights, too) every day).

Personally I am changing all my upcoming flights, which currently have 3 hr layovers on both ends (XXX-YYZ 3hrs YYZ-XXX 3hrs XXX-XXX) to either be direct or have 5 hours minimum layover, since YYZ's dumpster fire has a knock-on effect at my connections in airports around the world. It's insane. I've routed everything I can via YUL, but many places in Canada only fly to/from YYZ. For a few, I even gave up and just cancelled the last leg and flew from YTZ on PD. Think about that...

(Apologies for the rant... )

WildcatYXU

Well, AC seems to be proactive and changed my (and Mrs. Wildcat's) YYZ layover during our upcoming flight to Europe to 8 hours. They cancelled 8260 on that day (3 weeks out) and moved us to 8252. I don't really want to sit at YYZ 8+ hours (as I anticipate 886 to be late as well), but I don't want to complicate things by trying to rebook the ticket without the first leg and renting a car one way to drive to YYZ. That ticket was already changed way too many times...

Edit: He made it. He's at the gate and 880 is not boarding yet. Still, this uncertainty instead of a comfortable connection with a drink in the MLL is annoying.