I was affected by the AC Strike
AC's Flight Attendant Strike caused me to almost not make it back home but these tricks helped me find a way back
Context:
I had a trip booked out 3 months in advance and booked it using Aeroplan Points from Vancouver to London, England (Yes, I have to specify as we have a London, Ontario in Canada 😂) with a return leg booked with United to the US and Air Canada Back to Vancouver.
What was supposed to be just a quick weekend getaway, turned into me being paranoid about being stuck in England, worried about work and figuring out how I could theoretically get myself home on any option possible.
Gameplan:
The day finally came and AC hadn’t yet cancelled my US leg from Denver back to Vancouver and I was stuck at dinner the day before wondering if I should end up staying in England or would I be stuck in Denver. 6 Hours before Departure, yes 6 HOURS, my flight from Denver to Vancouver was cancelled which threw all my plans into motion on figuring out how to get home. I was booked on United to Denver which was confirmed and still good to fly on time but the only other flight that I could legally make during MCT (Minimum Connection Time) was sold out.
Minimum Connection Time varies by airline and by Airport as well so keep an eye out when you have a tight connection or need to go through customs.
Flights were starting to sell out and the only options I had left would have been either a longer rerouting to Los Angeles and waiting 20 hours in LAX or stay in London for 3 days until flights ideally restarted. The tube ride to the airport was just me calling in and asking for a callback which I managed to get within 20 minutes and frantically finding options on how to get home.
Tools I used:
So, as someone who’s been moved from a flight before to an airline that wasn’t Air Canada, I knew that there were codeshares that I could possibly make. Here’s a broad list of all airlines Air Canada could rebook me with:
AA AC AD AF AH AI AM AR AS AT AV AZ A3 BA BE BG BM BR BT BW CA CI CM CX CZ DL EI EK EN ET EW EY FI FJ FM FZ GA GF GK GQ G3 HA HO HP HR HX H2 IB JJ JL JO JQ JV KA KC KE KK KL KM KQ KU KX LA LG LH LI LO LP LR LX ME MH MK MO MS MU NH NZ OA OK OO OS OU OZ PB PG PK PR PS PZ P6 QF QH QK QR RJ SA SB SC SK SN SQ SU SV TA TG TK TN TP TR TU T0 UA UK UL VA VB VL VN VS WB WF WK WY W2 XL XQ YN ZH 2A 2K 2R 3K 3M 3S 4C 4M 4O 4U 4Y 5T 7C 7F 9B 9M 9W
(Don’t worry, I’m not going to explain each one but the key ones to know here for the rest of this post is BA - British Airways.)
Even though BA isn’t part of Star Alliance, Air Canada has a interline agreement to sell tickets on BA when on a Air Canada Ticket. You’ll sometimes see this when booking a flight to regional UK from Canada where there may be a BA segment.
With the knowledge that I could rebook on BA, I went to ITA Matrix. Most folks generally are used to using Expedia or Google Flights but ITA Matrix was the original logic that helped build Google Flights and one of the best features it offers, is the ability to find segments and flights on all airlines in a single search and pick as many stops.
Using ITA Matrix, I was able to find:
British Airways - London to Phoenix, AZ
Air Canada Express - Phoenix to Vancouver
(AC Express was not affected by the Strike but my connection in Phoenix was only 1hr40mins so any delays and any long wait at Customs and I’d be stuck in Phoenix where it was 41 Degrees C)
Convincing the Air Canada Agent
Now, most folks would rebook using the online tool but to my surprise, it said there were no flights available for the next 3 days and I’d have to speak to either someone at the Call Center or at the Airport. Seeing the Air Canada line at Heathrow told me I wouldn’t be talking to anyone for at least 2 hours. I first assumed that United could reroute me home, but they said “nope, not my problem” and asked me to contact Air Canada.
United was sneaky, and actually removed my Denver to Vancouver segment after Air Canada cancelled the flight. If I was to fly home, I’d be stuck in Denver and pay cash to fly back home.
Calling the agent, I explained the scenario and told him “I see this available flight on British Airways. Can you rebook on this?” Even though this economy leg was around $5,500 CAD on the day of booking, Air Canada had a responsibility to get me home and as much as I would have loved to stay in England and claim a decent chunk from UK261, I just wanted to get home.
With a few trips running around desk to desk, I managed to get United to let me go back to Air Canada and book the above journey on British Airways back home. Running around from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 only to be told it was the wrong terminal and going back to Terminal 3 was a fun day for me and I definitely got my steps in but I was just happy I could go back home.
So why are you telling me this a week after the strike?
Well, the Flight Attendant’s have yet to ratify the agreement presented by Air Canada and if anything was to fall out or if they said no, we’d be back in this scenario.
Instead of letting the Airline offer you something if you were to have a flight get cancelled, these tips and tricks above can help you better understand your rights and options to tell an Air Canada agent that these flights exist and you can rebook on this if need be. You can’t be upgraded from your original class sadly so no free upgrades if Air Canada cancels your economy flight when using a interline partner.