Do not fly Air Canada
 

I booked a flight to Shannon Ireland from Chicago 2 mo. ago.<BR> I have researched booked my b/b's and car rental.<BR> I am so ready to go until Air Canada called to inform me the last leg of my trip Heathrow to Shannon is cancelled.<BR> I am booked to land in Heathrow now!!!<BR> Just like that no compensations no alternate routes.<BR> Lots of calls back and forth FINALLY I am booked on Aer Linguis.<BR> So I will fly Air Canada cdg to Heathrow then a 4 hour wait for flight with Aer Linguis to Shannon.<BR> Anybody have advice what recourse I have. Is this legal? Do you have a contract with the airline when you book a trip from point a to b?? PJ

Aww, pj, that stinks! I have never had this happen to me but I really am sorry. Won't they compensate you in any way? Free tickets somewhere? Maybe upgrade this flight since they messed it up for you? Good luck.

pj -- Had you already paid for your ticket? If so, then yes, I think you had a contract and Air Canada should be responsible for assisting you (although I bet the fine print covers their you-know-what). If it was only booked but not paid then I don't think you will get anywhere.

The flight was booked and paid for.<BR>Have not read the fine print.<BR>Guess now would be the time!! Well so much for customer service. <BR> Thanks for the empathy!!! PJ

http://www.aircanada.ca/about-us/media/home.html<BR><BR>pj<BR>This is their Media site, which is where they "invite" you to ask questions and get information. You might want to ask a few pertinent questions, especially , since all companies hate it when people write bad things about them, especially disgruntled customers. Maybe you should clue them in on the very bad reputation they could get doing things like this.

However schedules do change. Now into slow season.

ttt

I was on an Air Canada flight three weeks ago. The flights departed on time and arrived early. I will be flying on Air Canada to London from Boston via Toronto, and don't hesitate to get on that flight. <BR><BR>Flights change all the time, what you are experiencing is not just common to Air Canada.<BR><BR>One question you say "So I will fly Air Canada cdg to Heathrow then a 4 hour wait for flight with Aer Linguis to Shannon." Why are you flying from Chicago into Charles DeGaulle in Paris and then onto Heathrow via Air Canada, or is that just a typo? Wouldn't you be flying Chicago-Toronto-Heathrow on Air Canada?<BR>

Wait a minute -- I'm confused. Awgeeso and Leslie, are you saying that if you purchase a ticket with an airline and then they change their schedule and can't get you to your destination, they have NO obligation to help you reschedule that portion of the trip, or refund a portion of your fare?<BR><BR>Surely that is no way to run an airline?

If you lived in canada, or had the foresight to ask a canadians opinion on Air Canada before you booked, you would never had called them in the first place. it is the last airline I would ever choose.

This puzzle seems to be missing a piece. Are you saying that you paid for a ticket to Shannon and now they are taking you to London instead and won't do anything about it? I find that hard to believe. Does that mean if you book a flight to Tokyo they might take you to Athens instead and refuse to do anything about that either?<BR>Surely there is something you are leaving out. You have no obligation when they have totally changed your contract. A different schedule or connection is one thing, but not taking you to a totally different destination (and country) than you booked?

apparently many airlines no longer consider it their responsibility to help out passengers who are the victims of their decisions, whether cancelling a flight results from bad weather or a bad bottom line -- my 17 year old daughter and several other teens were stranded at JFK by Delta last summer on their return from a summer abroad study program due to flight cancellations related to storms -- delta was completely unhelpful and unsympathetic until my daugher started creating a huge scene at their counter -- then they found she and her legally minor friends a)a flight out of Newark the next morning and b)transportation to and lodging at Newark airport. Otherwise they would have let them sleep on the floor at JFK and maybe gotten around to re-booking them the next day, if they didn't have to work too hard to do it. These were kids, travelling home alone from France -- admittedly, their chaperones were remiss in not making sure they all got on planes or otherwise taken care of, but Delta was obstructive. Obviously, it still burns me up thinking about it! So, embarrass them -- ask politely first, but keep pushing, cause apparently doing right by their passengers is not their first order of business.

Patrick is right - there is something missing here. I too have been affected by Air Canada's decision to discontinue its Toronto-Dublin-Shannon-Toronto flight effective October 15. I had no problems with Air Canada in getting a re-route via London. The re-route is, in fact superior, in that the total time to my final destination is over an hour less. The genteleman at the reservation call centre was polite, pleasant and helpful as was the woman at the airport when I picked up the new ticket.<BR><BR>I travel to Europe twice a year; my airline of choice is Air Canada. I regret the two times I foolishly chose to use other airlines (so contrary to the opinion of CanadianAl, not all Canadians dump on Air Canada).

I, too, have a problem with pj's posting. Air Canada only flies direct from Canada to LHR or CDG (www.aircanada.ca). It does not fly between CDG and LHR. Leslie is right in questioning pj about the routing he claims to be taking.<BR><BR>I have been re-routed by Air Canada too in the past and my experience has mirrored Ron's; it was easily done and I was switched to another carrier. Pj should have been re-routed Chicago-Toronto-Heathrow-Shannon. Maybe pj was unhappy with the intial re-routing and connection times - who knows?? I really don't think that we're getting the whole story here.

I flew Air Canada Bos-Toronto last winter. Thank goodness we called to confirm our flight the night before, because our 6 a.m. flight was canceled with no notice, and we rebooked for a 10 am flight over the phone rather than show up at the airport and find out. The story was that it was underbooked, and they didn't want to fly a virtually empty craft. If that's the case, you can't call the handful of people to rebook or at least let them know it's cancelled? <BR><BR>Then coming home, our flight was canceled, for go only know what reason, and we had to sit there and wait for 2 hours for a plane to come from somewhere else to take us. That's no way to run an airline, won't fly them again.<BR><BR>Don't know what recourse you have in LHR other than Aer Lingus, but you may want to look into other smaller airlines if possible. I would at the least request a refund for that portion of the flight from Air Canada.

Sorry about the confusion, I fly into cdg too often. This is the correct itinery ORD to Heathrow!! Believe it or not we had a ticket from ORD to Shannon on Air Canada. They have discontinued flying to Shannon.<BR> They leave a message that my flight is to heathrow, that is it!!<BR> I contacted them no help at all.<BR> I found a flight on aer linguis out of Heathrow. With much inconvenience long waITS. <BR> The good news is air canada is paying for the flight on aer linguis now.<BR> All the calls the lack of service, apathy, this would not be an airline I would promote!!<BR> We are leaving in less than 2 weeks.<BR> Schedules change ect. this was a terrible experience.<BR> I fly alot, travel out of the country just wanted you to know of this experience. PJ

pj, the Air Canada YYZ to SNN flight operates until Oct 13. Since that is nearly 3 weeks away, it is indeed strange,bizarre even, that Air Canada would bump you off that flight, when you are scheduled to travel on it within the next two weeks. It won't cause me to obey your instruction not to fly them, but will make me extra observant about their scheduling.

I had considered flying Air Canada to Ireland, but after seeing so many negative comments about them on this board, I flew another airline.<BR><BR>BTW, it's Aer Lingus, not Aer Linguis.

I hate to inform the american folks on this board but Air Canada is basically a monopoly here in Canada. I don't think they care about any complaints on this forum or anywhere else.