This post is my add-on to my last post introducing the rules of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. More specifically, this is about my own experience with this.
Situation #1
I flew on Air Canada to Honolulu on January 9th (AC2411). This was canceled that morning because the aircraft (operated by Omni Air, a lease agreement) was suffering from mechanical issues and canceled on the way coming back from Honolulu. This would be the same plane that would operate YVR-HNL. Air Canada then created a brand new flight, AC2011, which used a larger Air Canada aircraft and crew, and kept the departure and arrival times the same. As there were some weather problems, we arrived roughly two hours late.
In this instance, compensation was not required from the airline because the arrival time of the new flight mirrored the canceled flight. Also, the eventual delay that resulted was due to weather conditions that were outside of Air Canada's control. Finally, the delay was only 2 hours long, and it was less than the 3 hours required before compensation was due.
When flying home on January 14th, AC 2410 (HNL-YVR) was again canceled. This was because the inbound flight (YVR-HNL) was also canceled. This flight, also operated by Omni Air, initially was delayed by what I assume was mechanical issues for an hour or two. This was also in the context of snow, which understandably causes delays.
Omni Air flights are run strangely when working in coordination with Air Canada. Half the flight attendant crew are from Omni Air, the other half are from Air Canada. The Omni Airways flight crew do straight turns as their duty day is longer than Air Canada's flight attendants. The Air Canada flight attendants do a layover in Honolulu.
When the aircraft was delayed enough, I am guessing the Omni Air crew had timed out -- they were no longer able to operate the flight to Honolulu and then back again. Therefore, Air Canada had canceled the YVR-HNL flight and had sent out a text stating that the reason for the cancelation was "crew constraints." Because YVR-HNL was canceled, HNL-YVR was also canceled, also because of "crew constraints."
At the airport, we managed to be re-directed on a United flight from HNL-LAX, and then onwards to YVR. Our original itinerary was supposed to have us arrive at 705am, and this new itinerary was scheduled to have us arrive at 327pm. This represented an 8 hour delay. Arguing that Air Canada did not need to have crew constraints because they were departing from a YVR crew base (with standby and reserve flight attendants who could replace the timed-out crew), this was a flight cancellation that was within Air Canada's control. I was expecting a $700 in compensation.
Air Canada Responds
"We are in receipt of your claim under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. We are sorry for the delay you experienced at arrival to your final destination.
In this instance, the compensation you are requesting does not apply because the delay was caused by a safety-related risk.
Compensation only applies to customers who arrive at their destination 3 hours or more for situations within our control. Compensation does not apply when there are unforeseen safety-related issues such as mechanical problems outside of scheduled maintenance or mechanical problems that had not been identified during scheduled maintenance.
The delayed impact of a flight may be from a previous scheduled flight. The airplane, flight attendants or pilots may be delayed on a multi-leg journey and these factors can be contributed to the subsequent onward impacted flight according to the regulations."
The End Result
In the end, they denied my claim but were willing to provide a $200 e-voucher for future travel. I will admit that I am unsatisfied by their rationale. The aircraft was presumably fixed at some point, otherwise they would have cited "mechanical issues" in our text alerts. It was very plainly specified as crew constraints. While crew fatigue could also be safety-related, to not use "fresh" crew from their standby reserve is clearly something within the airline's control.
I figure that I was written off here.
What has your experience been in trying to claim compensation? Apparently, I am not the only one to have issues.
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