[eszekely]

Hello,

I was on the flight for Sydney that was cancelled 2 days in a row in Vancouver, on December 20th and December 21st. On December 21st, Air Canada decided to simply cancel the flight from Vancouver to Sydney with no promise to reschedule. Blatantly, they left more than 250 paying customers stranded in Vancouver with no intent to fly us to our destination, Sydney! Like others we bought tickets with Cathay Pacific that got us to Sydney on the December 24th, two days late. We were amongst the lucky few, as others were left to the mercy of Air Canada’s rude and unresponsive employees.

If you were on the same flight, please respond to the thread as we should find a common approach in demanding compensation from Air Canada.

I post below, my ordeal:

20th of December 2008

- Due to weather conditions the flight AC Ottawa – Toronto was delayed from 17:00 to 18:20. As the Toronto flight to Sydney was departing at 19:20, instead of flying to Toronto (we were given stand-by boarding cards to an earlier flight) we were put on a flight AC189 from Ottawa - Vancouver. Kudos to the Air Canada employee who found this more efficient option.

- We arrived in Vancouver at 21:00 and we were rebooked in our original flight AC033 on different seats as our original seats were given away.

- Check in for AC 033 Vancouver-Sydney at 23:15 for departure time 23:50

- We boarded the plane and stayed in it for 1:30 hours. During this time we were being fed all kind of announcements trying to explain the delay: "we are waiting for 15 more passengers who are late" (this announcement was repeated a few times), “we are waiting for the lane to be cleared of snow, then will go for a plane cleaning of ice”. At the time we observed that there was a thin layer of snow around the plane.

- At 1:30 am we were asked to step out of the plane with all our belongings and told we were going to fly the same morning at 7am. The reason appeared to be that Vancouver Airport has closed. We were made to wait on the narrow unheated corridor attached to the plane for 40 minutes because the door to the airport terminal was locked (nobody cared to check that before asking all the passengers to step off the plane).

- At 2am an attendant told us there's been a change and we were going to fly at 7pm the 21 of December because "there is going to recrew". At odds with the Airport closed explanation we were told that "this crew expired". The Air Canada employee distributed what was going to be the only kind of assistance that Air Canada would offer, one flyer "Interrupted Trip Information" with 2 phone numbers. The AC trip rebooking number was unusable as we were on hold at 2am, 3 or 4 am, etc. We were able to book a hotel by using the other number.

- From 2am until 4 30am, extremely tired, in an unheated terminal, all of us dressed in light clothing as we were traveling to Australia... we waited standing for Air Canada to deliver our luggage. They announced now and again "folks we are sorry for the inconvenience ...blah blah ..there are 40 more luggage ...30 more...20 more ...left..." We gave up waiting at 4 30am , after 2 hours and half of staring at that baggage retrieval system even though our second luggage did not appear by that ungodly hour.

- We waited in line, in the cold for a taxi for 40 minutes and managed to get a room in a hotel at 6 am! The Travelodge Vancouver Airport room cost us: 82,80$

21st of December 2008

- After having breakfast (cost 25$) and catching a couple of extra hours of sleep, we returned at the airport at 4pm

- we queued for check-in 1:30 hours and checked luggage and obtained a boarding pass for a departure at 7:30 pm on AC 2033.

- at 6 55 pm, the boarding time, an attendant came and told everyone to pay attention and after climbing on a bench delivered the following: "I'm just a messenger and am telling you that you are not going to leave today on this flight!" , "There is no plane!" to which one passenger replied: "But we can see that the plane we left last night is standing there in the same place, just behind you" The AC attendant answered: "There is no crew in fact, because we had to put it on the Hong Kong flight. We are going to take care of you like we did last night." ---to which another passenger shouted "But you did nothing at all for us last night! There was no assistance whatsoever from AC!!" several passengers with small children called: "Shame on you!!" The attendant, ignoring the complains: "We'll come back for you with further info”, and distributed the same flier from the previous night with a phone number for AC's special reservations service and a number for Nationwide Hospitality Inc. At this time, I dialed the AC reservation number waited on hold for what turned out to be the next two and a half hours!

- We went downstairs to reclaim for the second time our luggage and comically pass through Customs...even though we never left the airport!

- One hour and a half later (AC proves to be painfully slow at retrieving luggages from planes that do not take off!) we got our luggage and ran upstairs again to try to rebook at the AC counter while maintaining the cellular on hold constantly trying "special reservations service where nobody answers for hours.

- We sat at yet another very long queue in the hope that we would be rebooked on the 21st of December's flight Vancouver-Sydney. While my wife was queuing, I contacted an AC employee who was helpful in proving a list of seat availability on AC flights to Sydney: “tonight’s flight has 150 empty seats and there are some on the flight on the 24th, some on the flight of 25th , try to get booked on those”, he said. “But,” I replied, “you left 250 passengers stranded, passengers that paid AC to get them to Sydney , and you (AC) do nothing to insure that we get to our destination? How is it possible that the cancelled flight is not rescheduled?”, he shrugged. “Try to find another airline that will; AC will reimburse you”.

- While we were still in the rebooking queue, after 2 hours and a half on the phone, an operator from the special service answered and re booked us on that day's flight to Sydney . So, with luggage in tow we ran yet again to the check-in counter. We waited for another 45 minutes in order to be met by a very aggressive AC attendant who decided to leave solicitude altogether. She told us that our re booking obtained on the phone from the "special service" was invalid, she will not be able to be check us in and we should step aside. We argued that the re-booking was provided by the AC re-booking line, “they were wrong to do it”, she replied and we said that your own AC counter (some 40 meters away) was doing the same thing! She didn’t care and nervously asked us to move from the desk! We asked for her manager but she said the manager is busy. We asked for her name and she gave us a first name saying that they do not give out their full names! That is funny considering they have all our data at hand and our money (a quite consistent sum) for a service that is not being provided. She threatened us, as well many other passengers with calling the RCMP on us if we continue to ask her (AC employee) with a solution to our interrupted travel. She indicated that we should go back in the rebooking queue (which by this time has swelled due to many internal canceled flights) or call the rebooking AC phone number.

- All the above, took us into the night. We were already exhausted by the lack of sleep and extreme stress of the previous night on top of which the recent had fallen with the weight of an avalanche. We came to the realization that Air Canada was not willing to do anything to get us to the destination, although we paid them the high prices of the tickets! Together with two other families (1. father and daughter of Chinese background and 2. parents with two children of Hispanic background) we decided to look for alternatives of exiting this messy situation created by Air Canada.

- We went to the Cathay Pacific counter and asked them if they could fly us to Sydney. “Of course”, they said, “it will cost $2 512 per person one way to Sydney. The journey will have two legs: one to Hong Kong – 13.5 hours and second one Hong-Kong to Sydney and extra 9 hours.” “Well, only if the Airport doesn’t close down like yesterday”, I said. “It didn’t”, they said. “Air Canada told us that we couldn’t leave with the initial flight because the Airport was shutdown!” I said. “We flew-out last night!” the Cathay Pacific representative replied, “They lied to you”, she added. “I cannot believe that companies that need customers to survive would do what Air Canada did to us,” I said with disbelief, “are they going bankrupt?” “No,” came the answer back, “they are not going bankrupt, but that is they way they always behave with everyone”

We purchased the two tickets, hoping that our credit card, on which we already put the 7000$ given to Air Canada would not decline such a payment. We knew that this would limit the future budget of our dream-trip to Australia that was yet to commence. Our partners in this tragedy could not afford such a burden. “We simply do not have this amount”, said the Chinese gentleman while daughter was crying on his shoulder, “we paid more than 7,000$ to Air Canada and that is what we get in return? We’ll go back to the hotel and hope for the best” Same reaction came from the Hispanic family, they were supposed to pay an extra 10,000$ for the four member of their family, something that was out of their reach. We parted wishing them good luck and hoping that they would get to Sydney without relying on Air Canada’s sense of duty to its paying customers.

- As we were promised, Cathay Pacific flight left Vancouver Airport although late due to the snow storm. However the airport never “closed” and on arrival in Hong Kong we were greeted at the gate by Cathay Pacific personnel with new boarding cards for a later flight to Sydney as we missed the early one due to the delayed departure. The entire flight experience with Cathay Pacific has shown us that courtesy and professionalism still exist in airline personnel, something Air Canada should note!

24th of December 2008

- We arrived in Sydney two days late, extremely stressed and tired. We went to the pre-paid hotel, Shangri-La, where we were told that we were expected two days earlier! “Don’t get me started”, I said, “but, I’ll give you an advice: DON’T FLY AIR CANADA !”