# Air Canada reimbursement



## FinancialUnderdog (Mar 30, 2015)

Question for those of you who have experience with airlines. Short version:

I've booked a ticket to Middle East with Lufthansa. Two out three legs of my trip were Air Canada. One to Calgary, from Calgary to Germany, and from Germany to my destination. My very first flight was delayed, so I didn't make it to the flight to Germany and so on. Instead, they rerouted me to London where I had to stay for 12 hours. I've checked into an independent lounge for more comfortable stay, and then proceeded with my flight to my destination on a charter plane as opposed to Lufthansa flight. Basically, my main beefs are cutting my vacation time, 12-hour stay in London, out of pocket expenses, and subpar charter flight instead of much more familiar and comfortable Lufthansa. 

I've filed a complaint with Air Canada, and all they offered so far is partial reimbursement of out of pocket expenses. I'm planning to come back to them for full reimbursement. 

Is it realistic to expect compensation for anything else, or should I just forget about it and be happy with out of pocket expenses reimbursement?


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Do you have coverage for any of this through a third party or cc?

I personally would want full reimbursement for the out of pocket expenses.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

I don't think you will get much sympathy over the change from Lufthansa to a charter. London to Frankfurt for example is only 1.5h. As long as they put you on the "first available flight" to cut down your delay as much as possible, quibling about the airline is just that - quibling.

(1. Correction - I misread your post to mean your destination was Germany, not middle east. 
2. As others have noted, if you booked your flight thru Lufthansa, you may have to deal with Lufthansa for some of the expense claim. Seems unreasonable if Air Canada was the cause of the delay. But Lufthansa got a good part of your original fare, and probably should have been consulted about the interruption in your plans.)

It would be reasonable to try to recover your out-of pocket expenses. They may argue over the amount if the decision to book an "independent lounge" was yours, without discussion with Air Canada about alternatives. But don't expect to get compensation for lost vacation time.


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## PuckiTwo (Oct 26, 2011)

DCC


FinancialUnderdog said:


> I've booked a ticket to the Middle East with* Lufthansa*. Two out three legs of my trip were Air Canada. One to Calgary, from Calgary to Germany, and from Germany to my destination. My very first flight was delayed, so I didn't make it to the flight to Germany and so on. Instead, *they rerouted me to London *where I had to stay for 12 hours. I've checked into an independent lounge for more comfortable stay, and then proceeded with my flight to my destination* on a charter plane as opposed to Lufthansa flight. *Basically, my main beefs are cutting my vacation time, 12-hour stay in London, out of pocket expenses, and subpar charter flight instead of much more familiar and comfortable Lufthansa.


FinancialUnderdog, may I ask you a few questions?:
1. What was the airline they put you on from London?
2. To where did you fly from London, directly to your Middle East destination OR to a destination in Germany - and if the latter, which city did they fly you to?

Some important things to consider:
1. If you really booked your ticket with Lufthansa, Air Canada will not do anything "because it is a Lufthansa ticket". It's really stupid because they both are members in Star Alliance but that's what you have to accept. You would have to go to Lufthansa in that case.
2. Flying you on a connecting flight on a charter airline would be most unusual. Usually, there is no tariff/ticket connection between Lufthansa and a charter airline.
3. Out of London - it's important to know what your next stop was. If it was in Germany Lufthansa out of london often uses one of their subsidiaries like Germanwings or Eurowings. Those wouldn't be charter airlines but regular airlines. Lufthansa has had lately a lot of problems in London with those partner airlines, lots of AoG (Airline on Ground). Several hours delay was not unusual (I flew myself from LHR to Germany in December and had an 8 h delay and used also an independent lounge). 
4. If they flew you from London directly to the Middle East - which airline did you fly on?
5. Next question would be, on which day did you fly? If you flew on or after March 24 - there was/is a total uproar in Europe because of the Germanwings crash (which belongs to Lufthansa) in France (between Barcelona and Duesseldorf). Lots of crews did not want to fly incl. pilots. So, all kinds of airlines, also charter airlines, helped out in order to move passengers from one spot to the other.

Anyhow, I think you have a good chance to get some satisfaction. First of all, LH is usually pretty good in reimbursing. Also, at least in Europe, if you have a delay of more than 3 hours you have a right for some recompensation. The longer the delay the more you get. However, if you booked your tickets through Air Canada - all bets are off, different country regulations. If you want - let me know. Pucki.


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## PuckiTwo (Oct 26, 2011)

This is just to mention that I changed my post #4 in several places. One of the questions had a reverse meaning.


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