Flair to Sanford?

[ccudmore]

Final follow-up from our trip.
The return trip started well. We boarded the plane by 10 am and were told we may be leaving early.
And then the wheels fell off.. literally.
The captain announced that they had a tire problem and would have to do a quick fix. That fix dragged on for hours as they had to call in a maintenance crew from MCO, who didn’t bring what they needed to do the job. By 2:30 pm they cancelled the flight. Information was sparse and conflicting. We eventually received an email offering either a refund or to get put up in a hotel for 2 nights when they might be able to get us onto their next flight.

Then we started hearing horror stories from other passengers. Apparently the flights to Ottawa from last Friday, Sunday and Monday had all been cancelled at the last minute and some of the people had now been stranded for almost a week. They told stories of how bad their experiences had been with the hotel bookings. There were some really upset people - justifiably so.

So in the end a bunch of us hopped in Ubers and headed to MCO and jumped on the 9:15 flight to Montreal. It’s now 2 am and I’m in yet another Uber on my way back to Ottawa.

What a day it’s been!!

 

[hdrolfe]

Final followup from our trip.
The return trip started well. We boarded the plane by 10am and we’re told we may be leaving early.
And then the wheels fell off.. literally.
The captain announced that they had a tire problem and would have to do a quick fix. That fix dragged on for hours as they had to call in a maintenance crew from MCO, who didn’t bring what they needed to do the jov. By 2:30pm they cancelled the flight. Information was sparse and conflicting. We eventually received an email offering either a refund or to get put up in a hotel for 2 nights when they might be able to get us onto their next flight.

Then we started hearing the horror stores from other passengers. Apparently the flights to Ottawa from last Friday, Sunday and Monday had all been cancelled at the last minute and some of the people had now been stranded for almost a week. They told stories of how bad their experiences had been with the hotel bookings. There were some reallly upset people - justifiably so.

So in the end a bunch of us hopped in Ubers and headed to MCO and jumped on thr 9:15 flight to Montreal. It’s now 2am and I’m in yet another Uber on my way back to Ottawa.

What a day it’s been!!

That sounds like quite the trip! And I'm stuck on the last bit, an Uber from Montreal to Ottawa? You can do that?

Thank you for posting the information, definitely need to keep it in mind when booking. The price is soooo good but if you can't get home? That's a problem.

 

[ccudmore]

That sounds like quite the trip! And I'm stuck on the last bit, an Uber from Montreal to Ottawa? You can do that?

Yup. Worked like a charm. I tipped the driver really well to compensate him for driving back with no fare. He said he was happy to do the long drive.

 

[Mikey15]

Sounds like a really crummy experience, though I'm glad you seem like you're in good spirits through the ordeal.

Kind of curious, do Canadian air passengers' regulations apply on flights to Canada by a Canadian airline?

Standards of Treatment​

The regulations establish minimum standards of treatment that airlines have to provide to passengers for delays at departure that are within their control, or within their control and required for safety purposes.

After a delay at departure of 2 hours, the airline operating the disrupted flight has to provide:

• food and drink in reasonable quantities; and
• a means of communication (e.g., free wifi).

If a passenger must wait overnight, airlines have to offer hotel or other comparable accommodation free of charge, as well as free transportation to the accommodation.

Rebooking and refund​

For all types of flight delays or cancellations, the airline operating the flight has to ensure passengers complete their itinerary (that is, reach their final destination). When a flight is cancelled, or once a delay reaches 3 hours, an airline must also offer alternate travel arrangements in the same class of service and using a reasonable route. The airline must rebook the passenger on the next available flight operated by them or an airline with which they have a commercial agreement.

If the situation is within the airline's control (whether or not it's related to safety), if that next available flight would not leave within 9 hours of the original departure time, a large carrier must rebook the passenger on a flight operated by any airline. This could mean booking a ticket with a competing airline.

If a large airline is unable to rebook a passenger on a flight leaving the same airport within 48 hours of the original departure time, they have to book the passenger on a flight leaving another airport, if there is an option nearby.

I'm just hoping they either paid for the MCO->YUL flight for you or your refund covered the cost,

 

[ccudmore]

Sounds like a really crummy experience, though I'm glad you seem like you're in good spirits through the ordeal.

Kind of curious, do Canadian air passengers' regulations apply on flights to Canada by a Canadian airline?



I'm just hoping they either paid for the MCO->YUL flight for you or your refund covered the cost,

There was a lot of discussion about this exact topic around the airport. The basic answer is that if the delay/cancellation is safety-related the airline is not required to provide compensation, even the regulations applying to any carrier flying in and/or out of Canada. At least that's how we read it. And a couple of bad tires to me would qualify as safety-related.