Flight AC1528 was cancelled on sept 16th due to weather. I totally understood the safety in that decision and commend Air Canada for the safety of the passengers. All airlines did the same thing.
This is where issue begins. Automatically rescheduled flight 3 days later. This is brutal. There is nobody at YYZ to speak with at all and they gave us a business card with reservation number. We were 4 hours reaching anyone at air canada. We offered for them to send us ANYWHERE in atlantic canada and we would find our way to Fredericton.
Said they could do nothing as all flights were booked. We looked up flights and there were flights available for $1300. How does Air Canada have no seats available to get passengers home but you can buy one for $1300.
We tried VIA Rail but next train is wednesday sep 20th
We tried renting car but they wanted $1200 to drop car at another location.
Normally we drive to Bangor and fly from there but this time we said lets try air canada and not pay the extra night in a bangor hotel...well big mistake!
Costs 3 nights hotel $250+ =$750...airport hotels wanted $474/ night
Transportation to hotel and back to airport $150
Meals, missed work, and everything you miss out on waiting around at airport not included but substantial.
Air Canada and Pearson Airport need to get their act together.
If you fly Air Canada and especially through Pearson add $1000 to your budget for when you get stranded.
It will be a last option for me to fly Air Canada. YFC please get our carriers back to keep Air Canada honest.
Resolution:
Fly a larger plane into ANY airport in Atlantic Canada Sunday sept 17 to take backlogged passengers in and out of Atlantic Canada that are stranded.
The flight is only a couple of hours. I am sure they could squeeze in a couple of flights to get people home. The money they saved not sending the cancelled flights would offset filling a larger plane. Friends of ours were fortunate to cancel flight and get a porter flight back in to YFC monday.
I am assuming there are more people stranded in Atlantic Canada that need to get out as well.
How is Air Canada in business?
Desired outcome: Put a larger plane on for a couple of runs to reduce backlog of passengers paying $1000 to stay in Toronto.Maybe the federal government would chip in even more money then they already do to Air Canada to clean up after storms,fires etc.