His flight delayed three days later

Photo Martin Alarie
When the flight of Karine Savoie has been cancelled by Air Canada, the company has repaid half of his return ticket, 296 $, but not the car she had to rent to return to her home.

Catherine Montambeault

Saturday, September 2, 2017 23:15

UPDATE
Saturday, September 2, 2017 23:15

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A nurse from the Laurentians regrets having had to return to New York by car at his expense after his Air Canada flight was cancelled and rescheduled… three days later.

“We were bluntly told to wait at the airport for three days. […] This is a shame. In these situations, we realize that it is really taken as a hostage “, is unworthy Karine Savoie.

In New York for a few days for business, Ms. Lavoie had to fly to Montreal to board the flight AC7643 Air Canada on the evening of Thursday, 3 August. But barely an hour before takeoff, the airline announced that the flight was canceled.

The passengers were then advised that they should wait until Saturday before you can embark on a different plane. But when Mrs. Savoie was presented at the counter of Air Canada, a representative would have indicated him that he should finally count for one more day.

“There was no other flight to free before that, even among the other companies,” says Karine Savoie.

Panic

According to the nurse, Piedmont, Air Canada has refused to host the passengers at the hotel between-time, offering only to refund their flight and possibly a rental car if they chose to return home by their own means. It is this that has decided to make Ms. Savoy, who was later discovered that only his flight had been refunded.

Coupons to eat free in the restaurants of the airport would also have been distributed by the airline.

“There are people who were in panic, crying. Me, I was all alone, but it is unrealistic to think that a small family will stay at the airport during all this time “, she says.

“To accommodate the people, it seems to me that they would have been able to get another plane, or even a bus,” she adds. New York, this is when not even to the other end of the world ! “

Mechanical breakdown or weather ?

On its website, Air Canada indicates that when a cancellation, passengers are re-routed to board the next flight of the airline ” in the seven days following the initial date of [their] journey “.

Karine Savoie is adamant : the representative from Air Canada said the cancellation was due to a mechanical failure. However, contacted by The Journal, is rejected by the airline is now the fault of the weather.

“This week, there were big storms in the whole of the north-eastern United States. It has affected a lot of travelers, ” notes John Reber, director of media relations at Air Canada, noting that the company offers are normally up to 22 flights per day between New York and Montreal or Toronto.

According to him, these “terms météorologies extreme” lasted for several days, causing numerous delays and cancellations. It is, therefore, the cumulative effect of these changes would have led to a period of three days to the passengers on the flight AC7643.

Regarding accommodation, Mr. Reber explained that the air carriers will not pay for a hotel room for their customers only if the cancellation is attributable to it.

If the situation is caused by the weather conditions, they are not required to repay the hotel.