{"id":45633,"date":"2024-03-14T21:16:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T21:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/help-air-canada-ruined-our-trip-to-ireland-but-wont-take-the-blame\/"},"modified":"2024-03-14T21:16:30","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T21:16:30","slug":"help-air-canada-ruined-our-trip-to-ireland-but-wont-take-the-blame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/help-air-canada-ruined-our-trip-to-ireland-but-wont-take-the-blame\/","title":{"rendered":"Help! Air Canada Ruined Our Trip to Ireland but Won\u2019t Take the Blame."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-25a16c4f\"><span><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">Dear Tripped Up,<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Last September, my husband and I left our kids with their grandparents and set off to Ireland. Our $2,132 itinerary took us from Minneapolis to Toronto to Dublin on tickets booked on United Airlines through Expedia but ultimately operated by Air Canada, a United partner. We had boarded our connecting flight in Toronto (and I was already dozing in my seat) when the captain announced an operator had crashed the jet bridge into the starboard engine. We were given hotel vouchers and told we would be rebooked for the next day. Checkout time came and went without a word, so we went to the airport and were told to call Air Canada customer service. An agent booked us a flight for that evening, and we printed out boarding passes at an airport kiosk. But when we tried to board, we were told the boarding passes were invalid. Eventually, we were offered two options for the next day: Fly to Dublin via Newark, or return to Minneapolis. We cut our losses and went home after staying the night in Toronto at a hotel. But United refunded us only $1,087, barely half of what we paid. Air Canada did reimburse us for the second hotel and other expenses, but we believe the airlines owe us not only a full refund, but also 400 Canadian each ($295 apiece) under Canadian law for denied boarding. Both refused. Can you help? <em class=\"css-2fg4z9 e1gzwzxm0\">Michelle, Edina, Minn.<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"css-15h6bi9 e1gnsphs0\" id=\"link-f50e7c9\"><span>Dear Michelle,<\/span><\/h3>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I found the 58-page dossier you sent along with your story to be quite convincing. (It also convinced me that either you or your husband is a lawyer, which turns out to be true.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I skipped over Expedia, since your trip had already started, and reached out to United and Air Canada \u2014 as you flew on an airline\u2019s partner, it\u2019s a code share arrangement. A spokeswoman for United, Erin Jankowski, quickly sent me a statement noting that the refund you received from United was as per Air Canada\u2019s instructions and referred all other questions to it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Air Canada, on the other hand, took almost two weeks to get back to me, and its response was underwhelming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cOur records indicate these customers were not denied boarding in Toronto,\u201d wrote Peter Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the airline. \u201cInstead, it appears that following the cancellation of their original flight to Ireland they opted to return to Minneapolis from Toronto rather than go to Dublin following the delay. Once that was identified, we did rebook the customers on a flight back to Minneapolis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">No compensation, no word on the $1,045 still missing from your refund and no explanation as to how you were turned away at the gate for your second flight and yet \u201cnot denied boarding.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Air Canada did offer you and your husband a credit worth 1,200 Canadian dollars toward a future flight, Mr. Fitzpatrick wrote to me, \u201cto account for the impact on their travel plans and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was no response to my direct question asking why your boarding passes did not work the second night. In fact, it isn\u2019t even clear from Mr. Fitzpatrick\u2019s initial statement that Air Canada believed you even tried to board, despite the boarding passes you included in the dossier sent to me and the two airlines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I wrote back with more pointed questions, thanks to what I learned after reading up on the Canadian Transportation Agency\u2019s air passenger protection regulations and speaking with Tom Oommen, the director general of the C.T.A.\u2019s Analysis and Outreach Branch.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe have what I would call a very complete holistic system of consumer protection for airlines,\u201d he said. For example, when flight disruptions occur for reasons within an airline\u2019s control and the airline cannot get passengers onto another of its own flights within nine hours, it must book the passenger on any airline, including competitors it does not have agreements with, a requirement that the United States does not impose.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Oommen also noted that if a passenger is stuck midway through a trip and is not happy with the options to continue on, the airline must offer to rebook that passenger \u201con a flight back to their point of origin free of charge and refund their entire ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He wouldn\u2019t specifically comment on your case, but that is exactly what happened to you. (The only exception to these rules is when the disruption is not within the airline\u2019s control, Mr. Oommen said, but when a mechanical problem is caused by an airline employee or contractor, \u201cit\u2019s hard to make that argument.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are also many circumstances in which Canada requires airlines to compensate passengers \u2014 between 400 and 2,400 dollars \u2014 for flight delays, cancellations and denied boarding within the airline\u2019s control. There is an exception for when such issues have safety implications, which could apply to the first night\u2019s engine damage, but not, it seems to me, for the second night\u2019s nonfunctioning boarding passes. That sounds a lot like denied boarding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This time, you heard back before I did, and forwarded me several emails from Air Canada, including one that said the carrier had approved a cash payment of 400 dollars per traveler. Then Mr. Fitzpatrick emailed me to say you would receive a full refund.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">So you got what you asked for, but of course you would rather have gone to Ireland. And what happened, exactly, when Air Canada refused to board you in Toronto? Mr. Fitzpatrick told me United had canceled your ticket before you even got to the gate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I found that confusing \u2014 the boarding pass bears an Air Canada ticket number, and you had not even spoken to United that day. So I got back in touch with United\u2019s Ms. Jankowski, who looked into the situation further and found that \u201cUnited canceled the tickets after sending messages to the operating carrier, Air Canada, informing them that the tickets had not been properly reissued to the rescheduled flight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Apparently, somewhere in the interfacing bowels of the two carriers\u2019 systems, your Air Canada boarding pass was invalidated by United, and neither airline contacted you. And that\u2019s too bad, because Mr. Fitzpatrick later confirmed that second flight left with empty seats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When you decided to just go home, the Air Canada representative at the airport said you had to call United. The process to untangle the mess and get you booked on a flight back to Minneapolis required hours and six different United customer service representatives and supervisors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Your experience is a good reason for all of us to avoid code shares unless they are necessary \u2014 such as when an itinerary includes flights operated by different airlines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All this because you originally booked Air Canada flights as United code shares \u2014 a choice you found on Expedia. When I recently ran a Minneapolis-to-Dublin search on Expedia for a week in April, the first two choices that appeared were the same route via Toronto with no price difference, one booked directly on Air Canada and the other as a code share on United. Assuming you saw the same thing last year, I bet that if you had booked the Air Canada choice, you would have made it to Ireland, albeit a day late. All the more reason to book directly, with one airline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There is one final mystery: Why wouldn\u2019t Air Canada admit this was a case of denied boarding, and follow the required C.T.A. regulations? Yes, your case doesn\u2019t precisely fit the agency\u2019s official definition, which is written to describe overbooking or changes in aircraft, but if an airline erroneously cancels a passenger\u2019s ticket after it has already printed a boarding pass, and you are stopped at the gate, what is that?<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I presented this as a theoretical situation to the Mr. Oommen of the C.T.A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cClassic denied boarding is what you\u2019re describing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That means you could file for an additional 400 dollars each for this second incident, and put that toward a new flight to Ireland \u2014 say, on Aer Lingus, direct or through Chicago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">If you need advice about a best-laid travel plan that went awry, <strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">send an email to TrippedUp@nytimes.com<\/strong><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dear Tripped Up, Last September, my husband and I left our kids with their grandparents and set off to Ireland. Our $2,132 itinerary took us from Minneapolis to Toronto to Dublin on tickets booked on United Airlines through Expedia but ultimately operated by Air Canada, a United partner. We had boarded our connecting flight in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45633"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manitimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}