FlyerTalk Forums - [OVER 48 HOURS FROM DEPARTURE] AC changed/cancelled my flight. What are my options? (2024)

This is absolute nonsense from an agent who has no idea what they're talking about, and their aggressive attitude is offensive. The tariff clearly defines signature class as a class of travel separate from business class. A change of aircraft is not just a change of aircraft in this case, it's a downgrade under the terms of the tariff, and you're entitled to be re-booked in the CoS you paid for. I suggest you write in to AC via the customer service web form and try to get this person the remedial training they so desperately need.

I thought the "added a note to your booking that aircraft is never guaranteed" was a bit over the top...why didn't they just say 'we've added you to the naughty list you scammer'?

Another great 'we're not happy until you're not happy' moment with AC Customer Service!

True if we are talking about domestic/NA ticket.

However for a domestic leg of an international ticket, I don't believe there is a difference, whether the domestic leg is signature or not. Price is the same. Now that unfortunately we mostly have the connect at YUL/YYZ when flying to Europe, switching between Signature/non signature has regularly happened to us and I don't believe we qualify for anything.

Price is irrelevant to my comment. Both the domestic and international tariffs specify that Signature Class is its own class of service and what I said previously is equally applicable.

Which options did you select? On the customer service web form, if you select "General Concerns", then under "Regarding" choose "Call Centre", there's an option for "Service", which seems to exactly fit your issue.

While I do not doubt your interpretation of the tariff, my view is similar to Stranger. As an example, I have been looking at a spring trip to CDG from YYC. Via YUL in J it's $3,600 return and both domestic flights to/from YUL are currently widebodies (Signature). Via YYZ its $6K plus with narrow bodies on the domestic leg. If I book Via YUL I would fully expect to be downgauged to a narrow body given the timeline, and would not care that much. With similar prices I would prefer YYZ due to the Signature Suite and greater flight options from/to my origin. If I book now via YUL, get downguaged, do you think I could use this to get routed Via YYZ to take advantage of the SS?

It's also crazy that the fares are so different, although I realize YUL currently has 2 CDG flights to fill vs 1 from YYZ. The SS is definitely not worth the price differential.

I don't want to sound harsh, but I feel the need to be direct, because this isn't a matter of opinion: you and Stranger are wrong, as was the agent that landingpoint spoke to. The tariff says Signature is a separate class (it's in rule 30). Rule 80 on schedule irregularities (i.e. schedule changes/IRROPs) was largely gutted when they re-wrote it to mostly refer to APPR, but APPR is clear that you're entitled to be transported in the class of service that you paid for. We have many reports in this thread of agents doing what they're supposed to and accommodating passengers on other flights, and very few like this horrible agent who not only didn't know the rules, but was a complete jerk about it.

. If you feel bad about using a downgauge to re-book to something better, you're free to not do so. But I will point out that AC is a business and it gets to write most of the rules. It is generally set up to use those rules to maximize its benefit (i.e. profit) from interactions with customers. If I book something sub-optimal and AC cancels or downgauges a flight, I feel zero compunction about using that to eliminate a stop, tighten up a very long connection, move myself to a better aircraft type, etc, because I'm simply availing myself of rights under the contract I have with AC (the tariff) - which was written by AC, and in which I had zero say (my only choice is to buy a ticket from AC or not) - in one of the few areas where it can possibly work to my benefit.

You may react differently, and that's fine - to each his own.

I don't think it's a question of fares, because I've never seen an AC fare that differentiates connecting at YYZ vs at YUL. What I suspect you're seeing is better availability of P space via YUL than via YYZ. If you take a look at these options, I suspect you'll see that the YYZ connections are booking in to Z while the YUL connections are in P. If you play around with dates, you will likely find days where you can get a $3,600 P fare via YYZ, and you may find days where it costs $6,000 to go via YUL because there's only Z space. I'm also not sure how you're searching for flights, but you might find if you're using Google Flights that it's not initially showing you some YYZ connections because they require ridiculously long layovers, and they assume that you would rather have a cheaper YUL connection or a more expensive but shorter connection at YYZ. For example, a few months ago, I was looking at a YYC-MAD trip. Any reasonable connections (roughly 1.5 to 3 hours) via YYZ had ludicrous pricing because AC was not selling P, so it would force me to book Z for $7K or whatever it was at the time, or I could get a $3.5K P fare if I took a 5- or 7-hour layover.

Being a sensible person, I bought a YYC-AMS-MAD trip from KL with a price similar to AC's P fare. But on another day, I might have bought one of the cheaper, longer connections and waited (hoped) for AC to cancel that flight, downgauge it if it had been a widebody, or change its schedule, such that I would be able to re-book on a later flight. And in fact I did that with an ICN trip last year where I was able to tighten up my connection at YVR.

Why AC plays these stupid games, I don't know*. I see this months out on flights that have J9 P9 availability individually and showing zero seats selected on the seat map (highly imperfect though the latter data is). But I see this crap frequently on YYC-YYZ-Europe and YYC-YVR-Asia. Less so via YUL, but then again, the midday flight to YUL arrives too late to be a legal connection to many TATLs, so it's often a super-long layover anyway. I was looking at something the other day where one could have done YYC-YUL-Europe with the 6AM YYC-YUL, or YYC-YYZ-YUL-Europe and not departed YYC until 7:45AM.

*Yes, obviously, they think it will make them more money, just like anything else, and in theory, they could be saving all those J seats for people booking expensive last-minute fares, but when there's absolutely nothing sold in the cabin on either flight and they're willing to sell cheap fares on the flights individually or with other connections, it's highly unlikely that selling a couple of P fares now is going to dent future profitability

Adam thanks for the detailed response. You are correct (which is what I was implying), but that does not mean I (or Stranger) am "wrong" - I just don't care. For me a daytime domestic Signature flight is a bonus, assuming the prices are similar. If I paid a premium for it I would feel differently. If it was a red-eye where I planned to sleep I would also feel differently. I totally agree that AC did not deliver what was initially contracted for they should be held to account. In some cases they will not be able to deliver it (i.e. a domestic Signature flight that properly connects to my overseas flight), so its just a matter of where I want to expend my effort.

Just FYI I searched on AC for an entire week. The flights via YYZ are booking into D; via YUL into P as expected. There was only one flight combiniation via YYZ that was even close to the YUL price, but that was still signifcantly more expensive. It was also interesting that I could book YYC-YYZ and YYZ-CDG separately at a reduced amount (approx $2k less, but still much more than vis YUL), as the individual segements would book into P and Z. This does not happen often IME.

I get your point about the tariffs. In other words, from a legal perspective you surely are absolutely correct.

OTOH, did you or anyone ever got AC or an AC agent accept the argument and allow for a free change on the basis that a domestic leg was switched from Signature to a narrowbody?

Plus, I have had bookings which switchd repeatedly from on to the other. Changing how many times?

There are many reports of people doing exactly that in this very thread.

If you don't want to act on it, don't. But it's unhelpful to suggest that others can't.

Yesterday while on the phone with Aeroplan trying to get a booking adjusted due to a schedule change, I asked for confirmation that my new dates would have signature class on one leg as originally booked and was informed that signature class "wasn't a thing" for domestic. I paused and simply politely said "My booking says signature class on it, I would like to make sure I receive the same service." She pivoted to say "oh you mean the pods..." and I let it go from there.