Was Flight Number Changed to avoid Compensation?
 

Jan 4 PBI-YYZ. Original flight number AC1237, scheduled to depart at 2:30 pm. New flight number AC2137, departed at 7:20 pm. Not sure of the reason given for the delay but the inbound flight was delayed leaving YYZ from 10:10 am to 3:37 pm and the flight number stayed the same.

Just wondering if the original flight was cancelled to potentially avoid compensation for an almost 5 hour delay. If not, what else would be the reason for the new flight number?

Air Canada uses 2xxx flight numbers mainly to denote 'rescue' or 'replacement' flights in the event of cancellation, diversion etc, or - my best guess in your case - the original flight is so extremely delayed that virtually anybody aboard will have blown their onward connections.

The aircraft operating your flight was 5 hours late arriving at PBI, and ExpertFlyer's status notes show "UNSCHEDULED MAINTENANCE - DAMAGE DURING GROUND OPERATIONS" as a potental cause.

I won't speculate on your particular flight without knowing the facts, but in terms of what might prompt a message like that, this could be something on the order of "a luggage truck bumped the aircraft and they had to do a safety inspection" or "the aircraft blew a tire and it took a few hours to get the replacement put on", or any of dozens of other issues where the flight can't take off until the inspections have been re-run and the checklist has been met.

Again, I'm not saying that's exactly what happened to your specific flight, only trying to give you an idea of the kind of thing that might lead to this outcome.

In this case, one key benefit to cancelling 1237 and replacing it with 2237 would be to trigger auto-rebooking for anyone aboard with a connection onward from YYZ.

Standard for AC to cancel and introduce a new flight to avoid denied boarding compensation, which is significantly more expensive. We have experienced this a few times. Although not on the list of the passengers who were not reaccommodated.

For pedantic completeness, they'll also do it in the event of a day-of-flight significant downgauge (e.g. A321 is now an A320, they swapped in a JETZ fin on a mainline flight, etc.) that requires rebooking a lot of pax. Doesn't appear to be this case though.

Hello,

I just booked an economic basic ticket ORD-YYZ-NRT (014 ticket). The connection time in YYZ is only 70 minutes which is more than the MCT set by AC. My question is, if there is a delay for my ORD-YYZ flight and I would miss my NRT flight, how would AC handle the situation? There are only 2 flights to Tokyo from YYZ. Both depart the same time. So there is no other direct flight option.

AC will re-book you via some other route. They also fly to NRT from YUL and YVR. Depending on when the delay occurs, they may re-book you on something like ORD-YUL-NRT. Or they could re-book you on a partner flight like ORD-NRT or ORD-EWR-NRT.

If it looks like IRROPs are coming, keep an eye on alternate options and don't be afraid to ask AC for your preferred one. For example, AC's automated re-booking might default to leaving you in YYZ overnight and putting you in the following day's YYZ-NRT flight, even though ORD-HND on NH is available, and if you go ask an agent, they should be able to put you on that.

Note that AC's preference will generally be to keep you on their own metal, then on *A metal, and lastly on non-*A metal. So if they can get you there 3 hours late by sending you ORD-YVR-NRT, they'll do that rather than send you on a non-stop operated by JL. But if AC will otherwise force you to overnight and lose a day, they're more likely to be willing to put you on JL, AA, etc.

Mr. Smith, appreciate your detailed apply. I am relieved to know ORD to TYO via *A metal is an option. There is no AC direct flight from Canada to TYO that I can catch on that day if I miss the original flight. I certainly don't want to stay overnight in YYZ!

I haven't looked at the schedule, so you may be right, assuming the delay occurs very close to the time of your flight. But if a delay is posted in advance, it may be possible to re-route you early enough to get one of those other AC flights. There are also quite a few flights between ORD and YYZ, so if you're at the airport early enough, they may be able to just put you on an earlier ORD-YYZ and keep your original flight to NRT. Just stay vigilant and keep an eye on your options.

Unless it's a situation like a huge, predicted-days-in-advance winter storm, it's pretty unlikely to see AC announce enough of a delay on an ORD-YYZ - in advance - that they're willing to re-ticket a non-status passenger on a Basic fare, before their first flight was even scheduled to depart.

...the strategy of arriving early enough to try and hop one of the earlier ORD-YYZ legs is definitely worth trying, though again, unless they're trying to get people moved in advance of incoming weather, that Basic fare may prove to be the stumbling block.

You're coming at this from the classic AC paradigm of not posting delays even when upline issues from before are guaranteed to create a delay. It's now quite common for AC to post delays well ahead, when the circumstances are known. My YYC-YVR the other day had a 1-hour delay posted 5-6 hours ahead, and on another recent day, most of the day's YYC-YVRs had delays posted early in the morning.

There are obviously still plenty of delays that crop up last-minute, e.g. a maintenance issue on the inbound YYZ-ORD, but the chances of a delay that will mess up OP's connection being posted early enough that there are options to deal with it are significantly higher than they were a few years ago. And once the connection is jeopardized, the Basic fare doesn't really matter.

I don't think we disagree on this - I simply believe they'd need to post an awful lot more than a 1-hour delay before they're willing to declare IRROPS in advance sufficient to re-ticket a non-status passenger booked in Basic, where they might be more proactive in addressing the same problem for a SEMM.

With a 70-minute connection, almost any delay will blow it up. I'm not sure at what point the automated re-booking will kick in, but if it doesn't, why would an AC agent not address the situation if asked? I know a bunch of people who've been handled reasonably proactively on Basic fares with no status in situations like this. I even had a friend get put on SBY on a Basic fare because there was bad weather forecast for YYZ (where he had a tight connection) - no delays posted, no weather waiver, he was just concerned he wouldn't make it to YYG or whatever that night. On a 4-hour connection, sure, AC isn't going to be proactive for a no-status Basic passenger, but I think you underestimate their desire to avoid blowing up what's already a tight connection.

While it's obviously the case that they might be more proactive for people with high status, I would think that if the connction becomes below the MCT the OP would have a good case to make.

Especially since AC has been known to cancel flights where the arrival of the previous leg would fall below the MCT. In other word, they should not be ble to have it both ways. (Admittedly they don't do that consistently, only possibly if a flight is overbooked and they want the seat.)

Like others said, you will be rebooked onto another flight, most likely on AC metal, followed by *A metal, if your connection becomes at risk.

I've had 3 instances of IRROPS with AC since 2023 that involve rebooking of either the connecting leg or the original departing leg, and never have I once been able to successfully get an agent to book on non *A (ie. competitor's) metal. Most flat out just said "AC doesn't do that". Even worse if one of the legs is operated by a partner (e.g. United), whose agents know even less about Canadian passenger protection regulations.

Remember, the rules state they must get you to your final destination. But they (AC or otherwise) will fight to heaven and back to make sure you stay on their list of preferred options, even if it means the itinerary isn't ideal (nonstop vs connecting, etc.). Best thing you can do is to do homework on alternative itineraries, and telling the agent the exact flights, times, dates that you want to be on - and hoping they play ball with you.

Granted I'm SE and was dealing with a concierge, but I can think of twice in recent memory that AC rebooked me from AC to DL.