Air Canada ruined my holiday, as it’s certainly ruined those of many Canadians.
My passion is playing tennis. And for more than 30 years, I’ve been playing every week with my friend Allen, now a retired school teacher.
As tennis fans, we decided to attend the U.S. Open in New York over the Labour Day weekend. We bought our overpriced U.S. Open tickets and then plane tickets, separately, from Air Canada (for $652.23 a person).
When the first flight fell apart
Our flight was to depart Pearson Airport at noon on Thursday, Sept. 3, flying to LaGuardia Airport in New York. Allen and I passed through security and customs uneventfully and were enjoying a coffee by the gate when — about an hour before boarding — we received a text saying our flight had been cancelled due to bad weather.
A violent storm had ripped through Toronto the previous day. The fact that Air Canada waited so long to tell us our flight was in jeopardy was the first sign things were about to go sideways.
What we didn’t know, is that once your flight is cancelled, Air Canada automatically rebooks you on another flight without consultation — often using an automated computer system. In this case, since we had originally booked separately, the airline rebooked Allen and me on two different flights, airlines, and times leaving the following day, Friday.
In my case, I was to fly into Newark, N.J., at 7 p.m. Friday on United Airlines. This meant we were going to miss our first day at the U.S. Open, also on Friday.
After waiting in line for 40 minutes at Air Canada’s customer service desk, staff told us the best they could do was put Allen on my 7 p.m. flight — which he agreed to.
We went home. Allen then spent three hours waiting on Air Canada’s customer service phone line to speak to someone. When he finally did, he managed to book us both on an Air Canada flight leaving Friday at 2:15 p.m. Why the Air Canada staff at Pearson couldn’t do this is a mystery.
A second cancellation compounds the problem
Friday morning, we went back to Pearson.
And just as we were clearing security and heading to customs, I received a text from Air Canada saying our flight had been cancelled — again.
We lined up at the Air Canada customer service desk. In the meantime, Allen received a message saying he’d been rebooked on an American Airlines flight that was about to leave soon and would take him to Washington before going on to New York.
I’d received no notification.
When we finally spoke to an Air Canada staffer, I was told I’d been booked on a flight to New York with American Airlines that would be leaving at 10:30 p.m. Friday. In the meantime, I received an email saying that, instead, I was going to be flying American Airlines to Washington, D.C. — but not on to New York, with my flight now leaving at 3:35 p.m. Friday.
We left Terminal 1 and took the shuttle to Terminal 3 to track down someone who worked for American Airlines. Once there, I was told there was no American Airlines flight at 10:30 p.m., as I’d been originally told, and that my trip to Washington, D.C., would not fly me on to New York.
By then, Allen had had enough and decided not to go. We both went home.
Because I had other business to conduct in the U.S., however, I decided to see if I could fly to New York Saturday morning. On Friday at about 4:30 p.m. I bought a completely separate ticket on a United Airlines flight for $643.19 that left at 7:25 a.m.
Then, nearly two hours later at about 6 p.m., I received an email from American Airlines saying that the 3:35 p.m. Friday flight I was originally rebooked on to Washington would now also take me to New York, but by then it was too late — that flight to Washington had long since departed Toronto.
The rest of my trip to the U.S. was uneventful. However, I’d missed one day at the Open, was now travelling alone and was out of pocket about $1,500.
When I got back to Toronto, I called Air Canada’s customer service line and eventually spoke to someone.
I wanted to be reimbursed for the cost of my United Airlines ticket and half of my original Air Canada ticket. The representative at the other end of the line was not sympathetic, claiming my American Airlines flights to New York on Friday had been feasible. She finally directed me to an Air Canada website where I could ask for a refund but not explain why I was owed one. It immediately rejected my request.
When I reached out to Air Canada’s media spokesperson, Sean Davidson, he gave me a statement saying, that while the airline recognized “this was a frustrating series of disruptions” for me, “our records show that Mr. Livesey was … rebooked with American Airlines to LaGuardia, connecting through Washington, D.C. Both the flight to Washington and the connecting flight to LaGuardia departed.”
He also said, “Air Canada cannot comment on any conversations that may have taken place between the customer and another airline. Mr. Livesey subsequently cancelled that itinerary and booked alternative travel himself for the following day. His case remains open with our Customer Relations team and will be reviewed.”
Davidson was basically saying that I could have flown to New York Friday with American Airlines, even though the chain of events and what I was told showed that was not certain — and there was a chance I would have ended up stranded in Washington.
Saying he cannot comment on what American Airlines told me also sidesteps the fact Air Canada dumped my travel onto another airline without consulting me.
Profit over passengers: The reason for Air Canada’s failures
Stepping back from my own travails on this trip, why is Air Canada treating its customers so badly? After all, there is plenty of evidence that what happened to me has happened to a lot of other people. Indeed, according to a J.D. Power satisfaction survey released last year, Air Canada ranks near the bottom among major North American airlines for customer satisfaction. And yet the company made net profits of $644 million in 2025.
So greed seems to be one reason: after all, spending less on customer service means higher profits.
Air Canada also might be part of the general corporate trend toward “ensh—tification,” whereby companies don’t want to spend money on customer service.
If Air Canada wants to repair its image, there are easy fixes.
One, is removing its computer programs that automatically rebook cancelled flights. For one thing, algorithms don’t know if you’re travelling with friends or you have any other special circumstances.
Secondly, the airline can hire sufficient staff at airports and for customer service lines to help people quickly resolve their problems. And establish a refund service that allows people to explain what happened to them.
And finally, have planes available to pick up stranded passengers instead of dumping them onto your competitors’ flights the following day.
This is, after all, the way Air Canada used to operate. It can again.
