Just want to report a really frustrating experience while communicating with Air Canada regarding flight cancellation compensation. Details of the trip delays and cancellation can be found at the end of this message.
The point I would like to highlight is that, in order to file an issue/complaint with Air Canada, we have to go through the form filling on the web, with customer and flight details, including Aeroplan number, address, etc. And for each form filed, the response time is set to be 30 days (and more!!). We filed the complaint as soon as we finished our trip on 21 Sep 2017, and it's now Feb 2018, and we are still waiting for their response to our response on 27 Nov 2017.
For the first filing, it may make sense to go through a general web form. Yet for subsequent correspondence, it would be more efficient to have an email address that we can write to. I think this way of communication is to allow Air Canada to wear their passenger off, so they don't have the energy of enthusiasm to follow up.
Trip Delay/Cancellation Details:
We were a group of four who travelled from Vancouver to Barcelona via Montreal for an Oceania Cruise on 21 Aug 2017. Yet in Montreal, flight AC1912 was at first delayed for 2 hours. After we boarded the plane, there was a further delay before we went for the run way. And then mid way on the run way, we had to turn back as there was still problems with 3 lavatories. We waited in the plane until 1:00 am the next day, before we were told that we needed to deplane.
Although hotel and taxi coupons were provided, we had to line up in the airport for the registration/coupons, and eventually reached the hotel almost 5:00 am in the morning! By the time we settled down after taking showers, it was 6 am. We had only 4 hours of sleep and had a quick breakfast. We then checked out the hotel at noon and headed back to the airport for the new flight assigned (AC 1990) to depart at 5 pm 22 Aug 17. So a delay of more than 20 hours! We were late for our ship in Barcelona. A bus was arranged to take us to the next port of call Palamos.
Flight delay might be a common incidence for an airline. But to us, it meant so much more:
We were late for the Cruise, and lost (a) 2 days of sightseeing, ie. Barcelona and Palamos, (b) 1 day of enjoyment (cuisine, facilities and services) on the Veranda stateroom of the Oceania Cruise Ship, our dream cruise vacation.
We were anxious and exhausted through out the process, and did not sleep well at all for more than 48 hours.
As a result, we were extremely tired during the first few days of trip. In fact, we had to sleep right after our dinner for the first few days, and my gastric acid reflux situation was so bad that I had a sore throat even now when back home.We called the customer hot line during the process of deplaning and rescheduling, which was not helpful at all. Fortunately Laurenz, the manager at Montreal Airport was helpful and helped us get the bus to Palamos arranged.
We were given the information, saying that, as compensation, we would be given a discount code for our next flights. Yet upon reading the fine print, the discount would be on regular price, which when compared with what we could get from a travel agent with discount, it was even more expensive. So such offer was meaningless.
Lastly, at the end of our cruise, when we flew back from Athens to Montreal via AC 1903 on 1Sep2017, there was also a flight delay because too much fuel had been loaded to the plane (!). The pilot managed to make up some loss time. Yet we arrived at the airport around 4:10 pm, while the boarding time for our connecting flight was 4:25 pm. We had to rush through the custom to get to the gate -- not a very good ending of the trip either!