This is a bit of a doozy; first time something quite this strange has happened to me in all my years of flying.

I was scheduled to fly PUJ-YYZ-YEG in J (P fare). I intentionally booked a 23 hour overnight connection in YYZ to spend some time with family.

I checked in online and when I arrived in PUJ, I asked the agent to short check my bag to YYZ so I would have it for my overnight. He says sure. When he prints the bag tag, it's prints all the way to YEG and he goes to his supervisor to get assistance correcting it. The supervisor comes over, reprints the tag and I go on my way.

I spend my time in YYZ and arrive at the airport today to recheck my bag. The check-in agent scans my YYZ-YEG boarding pass and says that my flight is not ticketed. I show her my ticket and the previous boarding pass and quite the ordeal follows to try to figure out what happened. The agent advocated pretty strongly on my behalf and spent a good hour going back and forth with ticketing and the AC airport manager.

The best guess is that the PUJ agent somehow cancelled my YYZ-YEG segment in an effort to short check my bag. Capacity being woefully short across the board, AC has now rebooked me for tomorrow morning (with a connection in YVR); I am scheduled to arrive approx 26 hours delayed after my originally scheduled arrival.

To my mind, this sounds like IDB even though it's not directly due to overbooking (the fact that they couldn't get me on the next flight was). If that's the case, I think I should be entitled to the $2400 stipulated in the new legislation. The AC airport manager wouldn't acknowledge that one way or the other and said that she would send the case to customer relations and they would look at it.

Does anybody have experience with getting compensation under the new IDB rules? Is anyone familiar with the process that should be followed? Am I correct in viewing this as an IDB event?

What a way to restart travelling after the COVID hiatus.

Sorry to hear about what happened. You most likely won't get IDB compensation unless the flight you were denied boarding was oversold.

I would still file a complaint with the CTA. What Air Canada did was illegal and should be investigated . It would be even worse if your flight was oversold and the agent in Toronto intentionally refused to help you in an effort to deal with the oversold situation.

You should contact customer service. As they were at fault they might throw some miles or a voucher your way but they will do whatever they will weasel their way out if paying IDB, even after admitting fault. Had this happened in Europe they would have been liable. The law here needs to be changed.

What specific law was broken here, and how?

OP booked a just-inside-the-rules connection, and it sounds like an AC employee screwed up when trying to short-check his bag as a courtesy. This is almost certainly AC's fault, and deserving of compensation for OP's out-of-pocket costs at minimum, but as the old saying goes, "never assume malice where incompetence will suffice".

As for rebooking him onto later flights, even a one-person IRROPS situation is not the same as IDBing people off of an oversold flight, nor does it require that empty seats be held available each day on other flights to accommodate misconnected passengers.

The only flight for which IDB might apply at all would be the originally-booked YYZ-YEG, and from what we've been told so far it doesn't sound like that one fits either.


Lots of things would be worse if we chose worst-case hypotheticals.

It is not IDB, which has a specific legal definition. I suggest putting that phrase out of your mind right off.

Your theorized explanation (or parroting of those in the trenches?) is as good as any.

I'd suggest putting it aside today. I'm assuming your still in J, so tomorrow, make a point of heading the YYZ a bit early, and dropping by the concierge office. Gently express your disappointment. I don't know if a note from a $15/hr 6 month experienced concierge is going to help, but it sounds like you've got an hour to kill. This isn't IDB, so you've got nothing there. General customer service, maybe. If you get a bunch of notes in your file that says "Deathray was combative" you aren't going to get what you could get by being nice, but firm.

I suspect that the phone based CS agents (and everyone else) have a mandate to slowroll IDB processes as much (more than as much) is allowed by law. So stop saying IDB because that will trigger their personal and corporate defensive stance. If you are combative, you will trigger their personal and corporate defensive stance.

Its quite possible that you will find a Customer Service agent actually interested in Service. Its possible some internal process will slap the s* out of the contract agent & agency in PUJ. If you start off with them being angry, that will never happen.

I have no idea what you might expect if you play nice and luck out with a responsive agent looking to make things right.

No, because...

Specifically:


You did not have a valid ticket or confirmed reservation for your YYZ-YEG flight because it was cancelled by AC. AC still screwed up, and I think you should be compensated, but as [MENTION=843627]RangerNS[/MENTION] said, forget the term "denied boarding".

APPR doesn't exactly cover your situation, but what's most relevant is probably the flight cancellation provisions.

As for how much you might be owed, I'm puzzled by your description of a 26-hour delay. Was that really the first option AC offered you, or did you choose to spend another night in YYZ? As someone who is flying a lot lately and has a pretty good handle on what the loads look like on the domestic network, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't find space for a paid J passenger sooner than that. If they offered you something sooner and you chose to go the next day, beware that will factor in to what they might owe you.

Putting my moderator hat on for a second, I'll note that I've renamed this thread since it's not actually an IDB, and that I think we may already have a master thread on APPR compensation, where I may merge this after I finish these meetings and have time to to look for it.

Unless the flight is in Signature class, there's no eligibility for the concierge.

I hope OP writes back with that he receives. My guess is a 25% off coupon and any documented reasonable expense receipts reimbursed.

If OP had them issue a hotel voucher+meals at the airport, that would go a bit further helping customer service "remember" it was an AC issue (rather than passenger showing up late at counter etc).

//OP also earned extra status and redemption miles as a result of the YVR connection. Plus an extra gourmet meal. Isn't that compensation enough

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As a courtesy or necessity?
My understanding is AC won't store baggage overnight.

Here's a locked thread on baggage not being through checked overnight.

Thanks for the input everyone. I am currently in YVR and I'll follow this up with AC customer relations once I get home. I'll report back with what the compensation, if any, ends up being.

Let me address a couple of questions that came up.

I did clue in on the specific wording around a valid ticket in the IDB rules which is why I was questioning if this would qualify. The flight I was booked on was oversold which is why the check-in agent couldn't put me back on. I will probably stick with the term when dealing with customer relations as a starting point simply because I did present at my original check in point with a valid ticket and at YYZ on time and in compliance with the rules. AC had cancelled my ticket in the interim and wasn't able to accomodate me on that flight or any sooner than a 26 hour delay because of overbooking. I suspect that's probably my strongest negotiating position to start though it may be rejected out of hand.

The route I took was the first option I was offered. Most other flights were apparently running -9 to -12 into overbooking. The airport agent fought with ticketing to get them to oversell me into J on the flight they put me on. Ticketing initially said they wouldn't be able to get me home till Tuesday or Wednesday. The 26 hour delay with the reroute was the shortest I could find; I was interested in getting home as soon as possible.

I was put up overnight at the airport Marriott and given $30 in meal vouchers. I also asked for and was given a WiFi voucher so I could work onboard from YYZ-YVR.

I was told AC wouldn't have accepted my bag overnight anyways and if the agent in PUJ would have left the original tag on there, I would have kept the bag after collecting it in customs anyways. Live and learn I guess.

I'm generally pretty patient and easy going. I certainly recognize it wasn't the fault of anyone at YYZ and they were just trying to help me. I get the impression that my accommodating and conciliatory attitude was represented in the file notes because the agent who took my bag this morning and got me my WiFi voucher was very apologetic about the situation. That is pure speculation.

On another note, I barely made the flight this morning. I was there 2 hours in advance and morning security at Pearson was savage. The Nexus line was queued up well back into the priority check-in area.

I had a situation somewhat analogous to the OP�s. Had a trip in vain in summer where we circled around Penticton until we had to return to YVR due to wildfires. Was re-booked to the following day (insurance covered hotel and meals and was not expecting AC to do so). Was issued BP and seat assignment on next days flight. Went back to airport for flight and got denied boarding as was not ticketed on the flight! Agent night prior likely did not properly move me to the flight but was able to issue a BP - odd.

Was delayed 4 hrs to next flight and given $20 in vouchers plus access to MLL when requested. Wrote into Customer relations suggesting $400 was fair as this is what would have been due for a true denied boarding under legislation but acknowledged this was not that. Received a $300 voucher which I think is Ok. Before I heard back from Customer Relations AC also refunded the Aeroplan miles for the flights so that was good.

AC made an error and should compensate in a reasonable way but it�s not a denied boarding per the legislation.

I dunno... you were never ticketed on the flight in question in your story.

OP was.

Letting airlines get out of IDB compensation because they void your ticket after check-in opens is a very slippery slope.

I had a similar situation happen on an AE reward ticket which included FCO-ADD-SEZ segments on ET. Somehow I managed to get to SEZ without the FCO-ADD coupon being used which created an out-of-sequence error resulting in my entire return flight from SEZ to YYC being cancelled. After some frantic work by AE they eventually got me rebooked on an alternate routing but got home 5 hours later than planned. I wrote at AC and claimed EC 261 compensation (as I was routed through Europe) which AC paid out although they claimed it was a goodwill gesture rather than truly compensation based on EC261. I would say you are entitled to some degree of compensation but the exact amount is debatable.

Ticket doesn't have to be reissued in IRROPS, if they properly handle as a flight interruption manifest (FIM) instead. Basically the current ticket is allowed to be used for the new segment(s). However as your issue was trip in vain, I believe it must actually be reticketed.

Had this been left alone, aren't bags collected at customs in YYZ anyway, to be re-checked immediately or up until the deadline for onward travel?

I have yet to see a FIM under Amadeus, and every change to the PNR aside from eUpgrading requires reticketing.

The old system allowed them to do basically whatever they wanted with coupons. 1A is much more strict. Hence the problem here.