You’re entitled to a full refund for that at least, but getting it and rebooking a flight that works will be another annoyance.
They did that to me. Their policy was that if the new arrival time is within 3 hours of the old one, it is not their problem.
Eventually ended up just threatening with a chargeback until they relented and gave me a partial refund. Probably could have gotten more but… But that also only works if you don’t regularly have to fly Air Canada
Policy doesn’t matter. The recent law overrides their policy.
Refunds — If the alternate travel arrangements offered don’t meet your travel needs
If an airline (large or small) offers you alternate travel arrangements that do not meet your travel needs, you are entitled to a refund.
https://rppa-appr.ca/eng/right/flight-delays-and-cancellations
Good to be aware of but doesn’t really work. Ignoring the grey area of “within the airline’s control” being the kind of mess that is not worth fighting: The solution is “We’ll book you on the next available flight”. Which is already potentially the next day but also quite likely to break any connections you have.
As for a monetary refund? They are only required to do that if
- you were informed of the delay or cancellation 14 days or less before your original departure time
- you arrived late at your final destination by 3 hours or more, and
The former is already handled. And the latter is the three hour window that was mentioned.
“Within the airline’s control” is pretty clearly outlined in the law. It’s not a grey area.
The law also states that the new booking must be reasonable. And before you say that “reasonable” is grey, it gives examples of that. Missing the connecting flight would be unreasonable. So would missing the purpose of the trip. A refund would be pretty easy to ask for in this circumstance.
Their policy was that if the new arrival time is within 3 hours of the old one, it is not their problem.
I can see them now: “So, if we change OP’s flight to the one we intend to put them on, according to company policy, we’re liable. But if we do it incrementally, in multiple installments but changing it by less than three hours each time, we’re fine!”
Wouldn’t shock me in the slightest.
I’ve flown a decent number of budget airlines over the years. Mostly as “last legs” these days for when a smaller airport only really has coverage by them. Air Canada was the worst and most predatory by a large margin.
Like, RyanAir and the like, you can just throw them a hundred bucks the morning of and be fine. Air Canada seems hellbent on making your booking invalid and then charging you for a whole new one.
When there’s no refunds in x period but no penalty to reschedule, so you reschedule and then cancel.
I try everything I can to not fly Air Canada or West Jet. To get from Nanaimo to Kelowna recently, I caught a float plane from Nanaimo to Vancouver and then flew Air North from Vancouver to Kelowna. It actually cost lest than any flights I could find from the other two.
It’s alright, I’m sure they have a time machine to take you back at least an hour to catch your flight 🙃
Better not complain or they will make you sit in puke
After its scheduled departure. They know…
The mistake was going to Toronto. Pearson airport is so astonishingly poorly managed for such an expensive project. Always avoid Toronto.
LHR is also very poorly managed for such an expensive project. OP’s picking all the wrong airports.
You make it sound like I have a choice, going from St Lucia to France is a challenge. It got worse since COVID.
I think I had issues on close to 50% of my flights, the worst one was a 2 days delay on the way to France and a 2 days delays on the way back but it’s only because I ended up taking a private flight from Martinique to St Lucia.
On the bright side the company paid for the hotel each time, so there is worse situation than being stuck in a hotel in the Caribbean.
Like being stuck in Toronto airport…
If you can fly to Gatwick, it is likely cheaper because Heathrow has more airport fees. The train to Gatwick from London was great it had a screen in each cabin that tells you which is more or less full of people and even tells you if the toilet is vacant or out of order.
Heathrow is literally 1984, I hate the place
I transferred through Pearson before going home to BC a couple years ago. I had just finished a bunch of international travelling and couldn’t believe how bad the airport was. Even the amenities; the only place to eat outside security was Tim’s and some poutine place. The Ben Cambodia has a better designed airport (although it’s pretty new).
Pearson is the absolute worst. I’ll always try to use Hamilton if I can
But what if I am going to Toronto?
Air Canada has changed all my flights in the last three years. They are especially fond of selling me a direct flight, then canceling that one and moving me to a connecting flight with worse departure and longer travel times.
Then why do you use them?
I probably won’t going forward, if I can avoid it. But there’s always that timer of hope that this time, it’s different… and it’s not like WestJet is much better. So I try to avoid flying altogether now, for other reasons as well.
I don’t fly very often but last time I flew my American Airlines flight was delayed. The customer service and communication was non existent. They didn’t have a plan and nobody knew what was going on.
Never fly uhhhh westoid airlines. This might sound racist and it is, but fly Asian or rich Arab airlines. They at least give some fucks because they are tools of national prestige.
I guess these guys are just plain old tools.
Air Canada: We’re not happy until you’re not happy.
I’ve been trying to get compensation from AC for over a month for a suitcase that was lost for our whole trip. No one will reply. I’ll have to open a report with CTA.
One of my wife’s friends just had her trip to Japan delayed by 36h and she just got an email saying she’d have to go through the CTA even though they promised her the money at like 3 separate points.
I had to go MTL/Calgary for work 3 times this summer. I took all the airlines. Air Canada is by far the worse experience out of all of them.
Always has been. I don’t know how they stay in business.
Might be a bit more than mildly infuriating.
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I’m curious about your itinerary.
St Lucia -> Toronto -> London -> Lyon.
Not many direct flights from St. Lucia to Lyon. Hub-and-spoke route planning.
That, plus the fact that I’m moving country with a lot of luggages with my wife plus two kids under 3.
This was the only company were we could put our luggage in St Lucia and get them back in Lyon, no need to change airport, or take a train or reregister or luggage at any point.
Plus it was one of the only company not prohibitively expensive for a one way ticket.
That makes more sense. I was wondering why you didn’t connect via ATL to CDG and take the train to lyon. It was always faster for me when I did that trip 5 or 6 times per year. However I was traveling with just a carryon by myself.
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From my experience with YYZ, they won’t start boarding the next flight until around the time you’re scheduled to land (or at least not until after the plane was supposed to leave), and they WON’T declare a delay or tell anyone waiting at the gates what is going on.
Oh and don’t ask the customs people any questions or they might try to find a way to punish you. They refused to tell us that we were waiting fifteen minutes in customs because they failed to warm up the machine before telling people to get in line for that machine.
Never again YYZ. I thought America had bad airports…
Yeah but with all the time you have in London, you’ll be able to catch up the delay! Right?
