$1000 compensation from Air Canada for a cancelled flight - success!
As you might remember, I had my flight canceled from PEI to Toronto earlier this year. As I’ve been quite busy, I didn’t have a chance to follow up on the results, but now I can confidently say that Air Canada, in this case, has followed the Air Passenger Rights with regards to passenger compensation as a result of canceled flights.
UPDATE (Dec 2022): Author Alex also had an issue, where his flight was delayed due to crew constraints by over 13 hours. After submitting a claim, it took around 6 weeks for Air Canada to send over an etransfer of $1,000! He also managed to get a hotel night (no Elite Qualifying Nights) at a Marriott for his trouble.
The Story
Earlier this year we were on a trip to PEI to visit my parents. As we were enjoying our pre-departure drink at Dalvay-by-the-Sea, I noted that our incoming flight was delayed due to “crew constraints”, although I didn’t think anything of it. About 30 minutes later, as we were finishing our beer, our flight was canceled. Oh no!
Unfortunately, in this weird COVID era, the 16:50 to Montreal is the latest flight leaving the island, which means I wanted to take the direct early morning flight tomorrow morning at 5:45 am, yuck. We were booked on the next flight out to Montreal the next morning, but that wasn’t going to work, as it’s in the middle of the workday. Even with my 25k status, it took 40 minutes to receive a call back from Air Canada on the busy long weekend. Luckily, I got through and I was able to grab the last two seats on the morning flight the next day. While on the phone, I also confirmed with the agent that we were entitled to expenses that we incurred while stuck here for 12+ hours.
While delayed, I did some digging, and it looks like our flights were eligible for compensation under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Based on the information that I found online, it looked like my claim would be accepted for my canceled flight and I may be entitled to $1000 for my troubles (and my partner entitled to her $1000).
Like most people, during a delay, you’re likely going to Google something to the tune of “Air Canada Cancelled Flight Compensation” (like I did), which got me to this page, titled, Flight Disruptions. Long story short, the link they gave didn’t help, and I had to dig for the official link. Ultimately, if you get through many sections, you’re sent out to the “Flight Delay and Cancellation Claim Request Form” , which the actual link.
The Results
Just under a month after submitting our claim, I received an email from Air Canada titled “Flight Disruption Claim / Booking Code / Claim Number / / Date Ticket Number” (Italicized content is all specific information relating to the claim that’s been redacted for privacy).
Air Canada $1000 Compensation for Cancelled Flight
Wow, we did it. Moments later, my Girlfriend got the same email. For one additional day at the cottage we made $800 each, even after taking account of our flight!
A few days later, I received an e-transfer and an Automatic deposit into my account for $1000.
The Point
I don’t think it’s normally this easy for people, but maybe 2 hours of frustration led to a payout of $2000 for my partner and I. While I was shocked it was this easy, I think three are likely many more cases being thrown out / denied, which in that case I believe you should push Air Canada to provide fair compensation as per the law, as the payoff is well worth it.