I'm generally not a conspiracy theorist, but there may be a conspiracy to defraud people of money!
My wife booked a flight (AC Booking reference 25LF6R going & 25OU2V return) from Chicago to visit her family in Montreal. We booked directly from Air Canada site because it was a direct flight and didn't want any chance of issues with booking with 3rd party companies. I will only mention the highlights:
- Ticket we booked was not the cheapest (over $550 USD), but we wanted a direct flight (Porter had cheaper flights but had a stop in Toronto). It was a AirCanada flight operated by United.
- My wife shows up at the airport almost 3 hours before the flight.
- The flight was overbooked.
- The United Airlines person said that she needs to register on ArriveCAN, but that it takes 24 hours to get the code (PURE LIE). She told my wife that they will re-book her for tomorrow's flight at the same time and for her to go home and do the ArriveCAN and come back the same tomorrow.
- We did a 2nd Covid test just to make sure we don't miss the timeline.
- When we did the ArriveCAN, the code back back instantly. We then asked others and they said it's supposed to be instant... they lied to us!
- When she came the next day (which is today), United said that AirCanada has suspended her ticket, and they won't deal with it and she cannot catch the flight (I think it may have been overbooked again). Air Canada is a different terminal at Ohare airport, so she had to go there.
- At AirCanada, they said that they can't deal with it and she has to call the booking number. She called and the recording said over 60 min wait. She waited for 45 minutes and by that time someone with some connections gave us a different number that we can get through immediately. I called that number and got in right away, so my wife hung up the regular phone number after being on hold for 45 min.
- The AirCanada guy said that she basically was a no-show yesterday and that is why they suspended the ticket. I explained that United changed it to today. He said that's a different airline and he can't check that. And he said that's our fault for booking with a different airline (I thought AC and United were partners) even though I explained to him that I booked it directly from AirCanada site.
- Anyway, he said that they have another AirCanada ticket today that he can put her on, but they will have to charge an additional $380 (I think for fees and difference of ticket price). He refused to wave the fee.
- So in the end, my wife's trip was over a day less, she had to take another Covid test, go back and forth to the airport and different terminals multiple times, and be delayed forever on 2 days, and on top of that, pay an extra $380!!!
So, it seems to be scheme. United would've probably had to compensate some of the passengers because they overbooked. And instead of losing money, the scheme seems to be to think of an excuse (not even a valid) to bump people, and then charge more on top of that to re-book. And the whole time United blamed AirCanada and AirCanada blamed United.
If you ever book a flight with Air Canada or United Airlines, be careful... they are crooks! read more