Changes to Air Canada flights?

[bunnyfoo]

I was just checking on the prices of some Air Canada flights in May and I noticed that they got rid of the 8:10 AM flight that leaves Orlando. It's been replaced with a 7:20 AM flight ... For a moment, I thought they were adding new flights, but when I went to check my itinerary my 8:10 AM flight was changed too. I think the later afternoon flight has also been changed too. Has anyone else noticed these changes?

 

[mom_rules]

bunnyfoo-I don't know what's going on but when I
went to check on my booking for May online-it came up
with cannot view your booking call reservations 1-888....
I did and the automated message put me on hold (estimated
wait time was 10 mins) and then disconnected me.

Now I'm a little concerned.

 

[mom_rules]

bunnyfoo-I just went online and went to get a quote
for my dates-My flights, dates and times are still
within a few mins-don't know why I can't see my booking
though.

Looks like there are only two flight times out of Orland per
day one at 7:20am and the other at 13:55 (ours was originally
14:00-only chgd by 5 mins so far).

 

[bunnyfoo]

mom_rules, I booked my ticket through Air Miles so they gave me a site to check my tickets through. It said that the flight was now 7:20 AM. I tried checking my flight on Air Canada and it didn't work for me either. It's not really a big deal since the flight has only changed by 1 hour ... I think I'll have to be at the airport around 5:00 AM ... ugh! As you can tell, I'm not much of a morning person

 

[mom_rules]

You have to be at Orlando airport by 5:00-I agree
UGH!!!
We opted for the afternoon flight home-can still have
breakfast and a couple of park hours before heading to
airport. A little more relaxing this way!!

 

[jaret]

Hi just thought i should warn you every time Air Canada changes your plane or flight time you loose your pre-determined seats and must rebook them!!!I got caught with this last year and ended up bumped off the flight.(we were a family of 5)Our travel agent did not keep up with the changes and we did not have seats,there or back(we did fight and get seats for our return flight even though they were booked and confirmed on our way down)I would keep a close eye on what is happening with your flights.

 

[SandraC]

I think changing flight times is a normal practice for AC. They changed our flight time last year, but I expected it. I think our flight was originally to leave about 8am, but a couple weeks before it changed to 10am. Much better time for waking the kids! Got to WDW mid afternoon it time for a swim and early dinner. S

 

[northernmouse]

Thanks for posting this, bunnyfoo. Losing an hour is not a huge deal -- but your post prompted me to check our reservation from Edmonton in May. To my horror, Air Canada had completely eliminated our Edmonton to Toronto connecting flight -- which left us losing an entire day in Orlando! Managed to re-route and find a solution that works, and the scheduling folks were very good at working through options, but who knows when they would have called me!

I love the helpful folks on these boards!

 

[mom_rules]

Would you lose your pre-selected seats for a 5 min flight time change? I haven't been able to view my booking today.

 

[mom_rules]

Okay-I had my question answered.
I finally got through to Air Canada resv.
I couldn't view my booking because of the 5 min flight
time change. They have to notify the passengers when
this occurs before reactivating the ressie. and yes it
is possible that even a 5 min change can cause you to
lose your pre-selected seats (in my case he checked and
I was ok). So-if you can't pull your booking up online
don't hesitate to call and find out why-it will be to your
advantage.
They also told me that AC goes through a major schedule
change at least twice a year and yes they eliminated the
8:00 Orlando flight. He said if you for instance, booked
today for a flight in December you'll go through a few changes.
Thanks for posing the original question bunnyfoo!!

 

[SandraC]

When they changed our times, they changed the type of plane too. They were able to do the best they could with our prebooked seats. Although we didn't get the bulk head on the way to Florida as requested, we got it on the way back. We were luck that the four of us sat together. I was amazed how many people were separated. S

 

[bunnyfoo]

I checked my reservations and I noticed that my seats had changed. I guess Air Miles looks after this stuff... I was moved to the very back of the plane and I like being closer to the front so I'll probably try and give Air Canada a call tomorrow or Monday.

I wish they had changed the 8AM flight to a 10AM instead mom_rules, I wanted the afternoon flight but my boyfriend wanted the morning flight ... his reasoning is that we'll still have the whole day when we get to Toronto. I'd rather have more of the day in Disney though...

 

[marty3d]

As a general rule if your flight # does not change, you will normally keep your seats. But its always a good idea to double-check your flights and seats ahead of time no matter what airline you fly. We Canadians like to bash Air Canada - but they are so much better (on average) then the US carriers.

 

[dennise]

We are booked to leave at 5:00 pm on the 9th of April, going through TO. When i called abut a month ago, i got a snippy reply that we had confirmed seats so there would be no changes, but on cheking we were told that we would arrive in Orlando five min earlier. I haven't seen the 8:10 return flight posted, maybe i should check again, we cold be on the early one as well. i find it difficult to get a real person when i call, usually i am put on hold. Still, I can't wait for the warm weather after the last few days in NS. ( we are at the bak of the plane, so I wouldn't mind a move up closer)

 

[mom_rules]

Denisse-It's worth the wait when you call (I called at
9:00pm on a Saturday night and waited only 5 mins).

It sounded to me like they had eliminated the 8:10
flight out of MCO and now offerred only a 7:20 or
a 13:55 Flight.

When they do this (Agent told me expect major schedule
changes a couple of times per year) you may also lose
your pre-selected seats. In my case, with 3 nervous
flyers, I could not be comfortable knowing I did not have
the seats that they had selected. The agent was able
to re-book our same seats (and my flight time only
changed by 5 mins). How I found out, when I tried
to view my booking online it wouldn't come up and they
told me to call the ressie line. The agent said when a
change occurs, they have to notify the passengers before
they can release your booking again. He was able to do
this right away (he wasn't sure what the time frame was
to notify passengers of changes but I would assume that
the closer you are to your flight date the earlier you would be
notified-mine was not until May and therefore I was low
on the notify list). Moral of the story, I'm glad I made the
call.

 

[bunnyfoo]

I got a letter from Air Miles informing me of the change and my new seat assignments. I'm glad that they're keeping on top of things ... too bad about the new 7:20 AM flight time though

 

[katypop]

hi,
i'm flying with air canada and booked through airmiles too. so far my flight home has changed twice, once by 5 min and once by 10min, no big deal and my seat is the same BUT today i got another notice of a change, my connecting flight on the way home at pearson airport was now a 5 1/2 hour wait instead of a 2hr wait
by this time i am only a 40min flight from home but have to wait 5 1/2 hrs to get there i called airmiles and they told me the system is all "automotized" and you get booked on another flight , but not necessarily the best one so she was able to change it to an earlier flight so i only have to wait 3hrs now. ugh. glad i called but wouldn't you think if they cancelled a flight they'd put you "automatically" on the next available flight out???

kathe

 

[bunnyfoo]

I called Air Miles to see if they would change my flight... no luck They said they can only change your flight if the time changes by 2 hours or more ... oh well

 

[epcotfan]

I was dissappointed with the new AC MCO flight schedule. I Just booked for May and we were only able to get the flight that leaves Pearson at 7:55 pm and are on the return that leaves at 7:20 am. Cost a bloody fortune too. The last two times I've flow to MCO we were able to get the 10:15 am departure flight and an afternoon return from MCO. We are basically losing a day due to the late departure to Orlando. Nothing like arriving at midnigh

 

[mom_rules]

epcotfan-so far those flights are still being offered.
We are also going air canada in May from Pearson.
departing 10:15am Pearson and 13:55 pm from MCO
(unless of course we get another schedule change).