HolmesLouise120

Hi,
Hoping someone might be able to help and advise if the airline would be due to pay compensation covered by laws in the below case - I’ll try type it out as clear as possible.

We booked 4 business class seats return DUB-EWR with United.

The outbound leg was Air Canada metal to Toronto and the United Express from Toronto to Newark.
We completed online check in the day before, applied for Canada travel authorisations (eTA) etc.

Our first flight was due to depart Dublin at 9am.
I Received a text message from Air Canada during the night to advise we were delayed 30 minutes until 9.30am so we left our house a couple of minutes later than planned.
When we got to the check in desk - the Air Canada agent advised we had been transferred to a Lufthansa flight now flying Dublin to Frankfurt and then Frankfurt to Newark. Now flying at 8.30am! A full hour earlier than planned.
We never received a single notification from United that our flight was changed and even after checking in at Lufthansa desk and receiving our boarding cards - my online booking/itinerary was still showing the Air Canada flight and we still had no contact from United.
On landing in Frankfurt, I was still receiving text updates from Air Canada.

In the end, we landed in EWR just over 2 hours late.

Are we covered in any way for not being notified by United Airlines of the flight time change, change of stopover destination, and arriving over 2 hours past the planned arrival time?

Thank You

jhayes_1780

This is all on AC. And all in all a 2 hour delay is not worth a complaint.

Plus IIRC I think the EU rules call for a 3 hour delay before the mandatory compensation kicks in.

IAH-OIL-TRASH

You’re not due compensation by any law. You might ask Air Canada for some token goodwill compensation. United might of issued the ticket, but Air Canada was the operating carrier. The re-booking was done by AC - United’s not the culprit for any of this.

Airlines selling multi-carrier tickets should be required to provide an information sheet describing which carrier is responsible for what during a trip. A lot of travelers are confused relative to how such a ticket works and who to go to for various issues. The airlines could save time/money if passengers knew who was responsible at points in the trip. On the other hand, it would require passengers to actually read the info.

docbert

Air Canada most likely moved you to Lufthansa to *avoid* having to pay you compensation!

As this flight was starting in the EU, compensation would have been due if you had arrived at your final destination more than 3 hours late. I'm guessing the 30 mins (or more) delay on your first flight was going to trigger you missing your connecting flight to EWR, which would have resulted in a >3 hour delay - in which case you would have been due compensation under the EU261 regulations. Moving you to the route via FRA reduced your arrival delay to less than 3 hours, so no compensation is due.

alexanderchr

You’re entitled to EU261 compensation if the alternative flight (due to cancellation less than 7 days before departure) leaves more than one hour before the original departure time or arrives more than two hours after the original arrival time. It looks like you’re right on the margin so you should have another look at your tickets for exact timings.

unitedwildcat

For day of travel, you really should be checking your itinerary with the operating carrier — i.e. using the AC confirmation code on the AC app/website vs. the UA itinerary — in case there are any changes like this

mahasamatman

That can be problematic when the operating carrier changes.

unitedwildcat

I guess that's true — but if AC was the one to rebook, wouldn't it update automatically on AC? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Wouldn't be surprised though if I were wrong

Hipplewm

Anyone else thinking - Holy Crap - I would have been delighted with this outcome?

Unless I was secretly hoping for an extra night in Dublin - but to go from a cancelled flight to 2 hours late - on a different airline - that is fantastic

I would double check your notification/preferences with AC - It may have been a mistake or it could have been suppressed notifications....

WineCountryUA

Day of travel the responsibility moved to the AC and in reality AC probably had not notified UA -- this is typical for day of travel irrops.

appears the new departure was 30 minutes before the original departure. Arrival delay needs to be clarified and AC is the responsible carrier. There is no role for UA for day of travel irrops, if UA was not the carrier creating the delay.

Hipplewm

Especially with UA being the ticketing carrier - I can see these notifications dropping thru the cracks for sure....

unitedwildcat

it seems like it was just a delay that would have caused a misconnect due to short layover. I personally would have hoped for a longer delay so I could take those 600 euros to the bank

mahasamatman

This is not a cancellation, and those are the rules for when you are entitled to a refund, not for compensation. Compensation requires a three hour delay.

jsloan

Absolutely not. I always hope to hit the EC.261 jackpot. So far, I've been unlucky and my flights from Europe haven't misconnected.

I would not, however, try to extort United because AC didn't let me know they'd moved me to LH.

jhayes_1780

Can you elaborate on this?

As my quick study says there *can* be some compensation (seems very minor) if the flight leaves more the one hour early. And the OP's story only reflects a 1/2 hour difference:

And there is no reference to 2 hours after scheduled arrival (everything online is specific about 3 hours or more).