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experience with Air Canada customer service?

Hi everyone-
TL;DR
is the best way to contact Air Canada by phone? I just need to block off enough hours to sit on hold, if so.
is there a texting or chat option available on their customer service site that I'm missing?

Long version:
This summer I'm flying Air Canada from Boston to Halifax, NS, layover in Montreal, and as expected they've changed my flight time on me, making my Montreal layover 4ish hours rather than 1.5ish hours. And I would like to meet my mom in Montreal during that layover (she's flying up from ATL) so we can be on the same flight (we were, originally before my flight got changed). Would love to hopefully get my flight changed back, but I am holding that hope very loosely. (seems like my mom is a little more flustered about it, but I've flown more and more recently than she has).

Thanks for any tips you may have, and also for good/positive thoughts/vibes to the universe :P

Posted by
1541 posts

They have the option of having a call back rather than holding, and when I've used it the estimated time was close to correct.

Posted by
691 posts

My recent experience is calling the customer service number early in the morning (5am)
Someone answered me in less than 5min wait and was super helpful.

Posted by
4525 posts

Does the original flight still even exist? I assumed many flight changes were due to reduced flights not arbitrary shifting passengers.
At the very least, have an acceptable plan with specific flights or alternatives ready to give the phone agent before you make the call. I have always managed to make a change to something acceptable to me, when I have done my homework first.
Here is their phone number you will want 1-888-247-2262

Posted by
1541 posts

Just for informations sake, a number of years ago we were able to link flight reservation numbers with our friends and supposedly this meant if there were flight changes we'd remain together. Is this still a thing?

Posted by
24 posts

Thank you, everyone! For the phone number, info about the call-back option, and of course the very early morning call (which I think I can manage on Monday!). I'll have my acceptable option in hand.

What's funny is that my mom's seat on the Montreal-->Halifax connection did not get changed, which is what makes me think that the original flight still exists, but I will double and triple check before calling.

Did not even think about linking flight reservations! I'll look into that. Thanks for the idea!

Again, really appreciate it!

Posted by
24 posts

Happily, yes, my original flight still exists but I wonder if a price or aircraft change made them bump me... anyway, I'll be ringing them about it! And my willingness to pay for hopefully actually meeting my mom at the right time is probably the fare differential.

Posted by
4525 posts

I have never paid for flight differences when I was rebooked by AC and then asked for an alternate route. There are also passenger rights for rebooked changes of over 2 hours. I expect a call to them and explanation about Mom's flights should sort things out.

Posted by
1039 posts

I've had good experience with Air Canada when there were flight changes that I did not find acceptable. I did not pay when I needed to change my schedule back to something that would work for me. However, once I did get a representative who stated that I needed to pay for the difference. In that case, I said goodbye and called back. Sometimes it takes talking to a couple of individuals.

Posted by
24 posts

The customer service representative was super helpful and I got my flight changed to an acceptable itinerary :)

Thanks for sharing all your experiences, everyone!

Posted by
4020 posts

Air Canada should have this thread printed out and framed. It is rare on this board and most others to have a totally positive response about air travel customer service. AC could probably use the positivity after its bleak reputation for covid refunds.