Air Canada cancelled my flight!

[mom_rules]

PrincessPooh-when are you going?

 

[princess pooh]

Thanks . You guys are the the best!


Mom_rules, I'm leaving October 6th.

 

[mom_rules]

This should be interesting! Our AC flight leaves Oct 9 @ 8:45 am and returns 18th @ 12:15pm. So far still "looks" okay but then without calling how would I know?

 

[bcv2005]

Just last week I received email notice of a significant schedule change for our flights from Montreal to Orlando next February (2005)... the interesting thing is, I got the email from Expedia.ca, where I had booked my parents' flights (they are flying from NS to Mtl and meeting me and my hubby and kids there for the flight to Orlando). The original flight was 3pm from Mtl; now it's 10:15am. This is actually great, we get to Orlando earlier, except with that change it was now impossible for my parents to get into Mtl from Halifax that early in the morning! Expedia couldn't make the change to fly them in a day before, so I called AC directly and they made the change. All of this is good.

However, like the rest of you folks, I never received ANY notice from AC directly about the rest of our bookings for me & family! The only way I knew of the change was because of the Expedia reservation for my parents. Had I not known about it, we would have planned our drive from Ottawa to Montreal for a 3pm flight only to find out our plane left at 10:15am...! As it is, because we have to make a side trip to Cornwall to pick up my stepsons to take them with us, we have now also booked a Montreal hotel for the night before so we're there in plenty of time for our morning flight. So, obviously, significant travel changes were required because of this change in flight schedule.

Further, when I checked our bookings (they were on Aeroplan miles) on the Air Canada web site, the flight details still showed the 3pm departure even though I knew that the flight had changed to 10:15. My DH called AC and had them straighten it out but still, we never would have known but for the Expedia notice.

Sigh...!

The only bright side, which has some potential, is I noticed on the AC website you can sign up for a free email notification on flight changes up to 30 days before your scheduled departure. I've set myself a reminder for early January to go to the web site and sign up for this service in hopes that any last-minute changes will be sent to me before the Big Day arrives.

So, anyone flying out of Montreal next year on AC 944 (I think this flight has changed for most dates next year, maybe even earlier???), beware - it's now 10:15am departure and not the 3:00pm one you booked originally! (At least, if you booked it last Feb like I did...!) Of course, booking that far in advance you always expect the schedule to change a bit, but then you might also expect that AC will let you know about it, too...!

 

[bunnyfoo]

Originally posted by bcv2005

The only bright side, which has some potential, is I noticed on the AC website you can sign up for a free email notification on flight changes up to 30 days before your scheduled departure. I've set myself a reminder for early January to go to the web site and sign up for this service in hopes that any last-minute changes will be sent to me before the Big Day arrives.

Thanks for the tip! In case anyone is interested, here is the link:

http://mobile.aircanada.ca/aircanada/notify.shtml

 

[MikeyNS]

This happened to my Orlando-Montreal flight as well. I was booked on a flight going Orlando-->Montreal-->Halifax and tried to get some friends on the same flight back. Needless to say the flight was no longer on the website so I called AC and got a rude lady who after a little while confirmed that my plans were "all screwed up... this isn't right.. they haven't called you yet??"
This was for my Oct.31st flight home.
I'm so glad I called them! They rescheduled everything, but now instead of leaving at 11:40am I have to leave at 7:30-ish am and go through Toronto customs. *UGH*.

 

[Amberle3]

I've done the AC email notification, and still haven't received any notice.

I was just checking over an old trip report from DL and noticed something I had forgotten. We were meeting up with DFi during the flight, as we live in different cities but were connecting in the same city and taking the same flight from that city to LA. I didn't see him at all in the waiting area, or the airport at all. I finally went to the counter and asked about his flight - and was told it had been cancelled!

I was his TA and didn't get any notification that they had cancelled the flight!

As for AC being nice enough to rebook people for different days due to cancellations, well that's standard airline policy for sked carriers. If you want to make a change to your flight, you have to pay. If they make a minor change to your flight, too bad for you. If they make a major change to your flight, you can tell them where to go and either make them book you on another flight or have them cancel the ticket for a full refund.

Although some of the res agents don't know this, and won't offer it.

Oh, and I wouldn't recommend actually telling them where to go, it won't score you any points Most of the res agents are unhappy enough as it is.

 

[phabric]

My daughter and friend are making their first trip to WDW by themselves Nov 14-20. She is very nervous travelling without her parents for the first time. I booked their seats with AC on their site and they have our e-mail address in April. They were to return on the 7pm flight . I was checking AC site in Aug and found no flight at that time. Called AC, the agent said flight had been cancelled and they were on the 3:30pm flight. I said, we were not notifiyed, well it is still a couple of months away, we would have notifyed you 1 month in advance,well you are now and I will mark the file. I said what would have happened if I had not called. We would have called and keep calling. I don't believe that. It is a 3 1/2 hr difference. I also mentioned that the price had gone down $25 per flight. Tough luck you bought when you thought the price was good. Asked about seat assignment. Normally there is a $10 charge , since there was change she make the seat assignment with out charge.

I am using my airmiles to fly to Florida using North West for Oct. and have been notifyed by Air Miles 3x for time changes.