We were due to fly back to UK tonight from Halifax, with Air Canada.
We booked in online this morning, no problems.
Got to the airport tonight - we weren't late either - only to be told we were on standby. Apparently they have been overbooked on the London flight all week and the next flight they can get us on is Monday. They said because our flight originated here in Halifax (although it's the return portion of our ticket) we are not entitled to any compensation. Is that true? I thought if they bumped you off you were entitled to something. There were at least 10 of us affected. One poor lady was flying to South Africa via London and will now miss her connection there, but they told her it was nothing to do with them. They only had to book her on a new flight to London, she had to sort out the rest when she got there. Thankfully we had somewhere to come back to but it took them from 9 pm when we got there until 11pm to tell us we weren't going to get on the flight. By the time we got to customer service and waited in the queue it was past midnight. :curse:
I'm so hyped up now and frustrated as everything is closed. With the time difference too can't contact friends in UK who were coming to meet us at the airport.
I know AC aren't the only one's who do this, but the staff were so unhelpful and I just can't get over the fact that we are not entitled to any compensation.

Cobblers:

http://www.aircanada.com/en/about/customer/

Overbooking: why it happens and how it affects you:

You may want to know if your Air Canada flight is overbooked. At any time, this information will be provided upon request.
In Canada, customers who are denied boarding on an Air Canada flight due to overbooking are eligible to receive compensation in the form of travel voucher or cash. In other countries, customers who are denied boarding on an Air Canada flight are eligible for compensation subject to local rules and legislation.
Customers who are denied boarding an Air Canada flight due to overbooking will be booked on the next Air Canada flight with available seats.
When appropriate, Air Canada will provide denied boarding customers with meal vouchers for airport restaurants.
In the case of overnight delays, Air Canada will provide out-of-town customers who are denied boarding with meal vouchers, hotel accommodation and transportation to and from the airport.

Gosh how miserable! Sadly though, it seems to be the norm everywhere now. There is no customer service any more on any airlines. There's always big queues at the serve desks, people crying, stuck, can't get home etc especially in the big US hubs. It's horrible. The airlines argue the poor service and overbooking reflects the cheaper prices we pay, but I think that's a poor excuse. Like using the 'security risk' excuse either not help you or to pull you in line. Someone should pass a law against that one.

I know we shouldn't, but we just end up tolerating it.

Thanks, that's great. Will follow it up later today - it's 2 am here at the moment but so hyped up still we can't sleep. What really gets me is we printed our boarding pass online before we went to the airport yet we still got bumped! How do they choose who to do it to? One of the guys we were talking to was in the Canadian Army going to UK for a meeting, and was meeting up with others flying in from other parts of Canada. He said his ticket was paid months ago, full fare, not discounted or air miles. Same for us and the lady from South Africa.
Still, on the bright side, there could be worst places to be stuck for the weekend than Halifax on a sunny fall day.

It says in the regs that they look for willing volunteers!!

What I can't understand is that you only booked that day. They must have known that they were overbooked.

I am working in a local halifax hotel and we cater for most of the bumped passengers, it happens most nights. Last night we got about 20 passengers come down as they cancelled a flight to newfoundland, as "it was not full", its cheaper to cancel and pay for a hotel than fly so they simply cancel. These guys are all now on standby, and do not know when they will get home, Delta do the same.

no i think they meant they checked in online that day. not bought the ticket that day.

Yup, that's what I meant, we bought the tickets some time ago. We actually printed our boarding passes yesterday before we went to the airport, and they took our suitcases off us when we got there. Was only after we'd been at the airport a couple of hours we were told we weren't on the flight. Up early trying to sort out the mess.

Can you not ask them if they can route you through another city to get you home quicker i.e. take an internal flight to Toronto where there are more flights to the UK?
Good luck!
Flossie

Just got off the phone to AC. When I spoke to them I was told we didn't have a reservation for Monday night as we'd been told at the airport:curse:
Have the print out she gave us though so will be writing a letter to AC.
I think this is one of the problems with Halifax, you have so few options when flying out, internally and overseas. We did look at using Continental but thought it would be more hassle going through New York
They have now booked us on tomorrow nights flight to London. We did ask about other options but were told there were no flights available.
Keeping fingers crossed.

Don't forget to pursue them for compensation too. All the folks I've ever known who got bumped received hotel accomodation and meal vouchers as per the regs. One fellow I know did really well out of the deal by volunteering. He got moved to the next days flight, had a hotel & meals paid for by the airline, and got a partial refund on the fare he had originally paid (a few hundred US$). Then his suitcase never turned up at his destination (Germany) and they gave him another few hundred dollars before having a cab take the suitcase to him the next day! Shame it doesn't happen like that for everyone.

Rob

Oops....silly me

If you are bumped due to overbooking you definately should get some compensation. If the flight is cancelled or you miss your connection due to the weather then you are very definately on your own. I learned this the hard way on a day trip from St John's to Halifax when the return flight to Newfoundland got 20 mins out from St. Johns & they decided the weather was too bad to attempt a landing. So we ended up back in Halifax at midnight. The only assitance you get is a strip of paper with a telephone number on it for rebooking. Still, it appears all are equal in the eyes of AC as Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland was on the same flight and we all ended up staying at the Airport hotel at Halifax for the night!

Oh yes and the Boeing 767 I flew on from LHR to Halifax a few weeks ago was definately the oldest and crappiest AC plane I've had the misfortune to fly on. Not even any seatback TV's! Good job its only a 6 hr flighT.

I have never had a seat back TV when flying economy w. AC.

Done LHR - YVR at least twice a year for last 10 years...

But when i did once volunteer to get bumped i got some compensation, and flew business class the next day :-D

Hmm, Well back this summer when they did a direct flight from St. John's to London the plane was nice and shiny with all the toys. Similarly every internal flight I've been on with AC has had seatback TV, even the short hop from Halifax. I guess the word is 'take a good book!'