A traveler is angry at Air Canada Aeroplan, because her Air India business class seat was broken on an award ticket, among other things. Is there merit to this complaint, or is the frustration misdirected?
In this post:
Traveler angry at Aeroplan over schedule change, broken seat
Twitter/X user @MittalDevika tagged me in a complaint she has about a recent Air Canada Aeroplan award redemption, for travel in Air India business class from Tokyo to Delhi. You can find her series of social media posts below, but to summarize:
- She booked an Air India business class award from Tokyo to Delhi using Aeroplan points, and claims she was never informed that the schedule for her flight changed, as the departure moved from Narita Airport to Haneda Airport
- She only found out upon reaching the airport (how frustrating!!!), so had to spend $431 for “emergency transport,” in order to not miss her flight
- When she boarded her flight, she found her business class seat was broken, and there was no recline, no leg rest, no power outlet, and “no apology from Air Canada”
- She “paid for a premium experience,” but “got the experience of a middle seat on a budget airline”
- When she contacted Air Canada with full documentation, their response was “not our fault,” “we forwarded your case to Air India,” and “here’s a $200 (Canadian $ coupon), don’t email again,” with “no refund of miles or apology”
- She finishes with “this isn’t just about me,” and that when you use Aeroplan points, “you expect the airline to take responsibility for your ticket, even if it’s a codeshare,” and “passing the buck to the operating airline is unacceptable,” and “travelers deserve better”
I’m sympathetic, but the anger seems misdirected
The way I view it, there are two separate issues here — the lack of schedule change notification, and the onboard problems on Air India. They’re very different issues. I totally understand this traveler’s frustrations — how crappy to arrive at the wrong airport, and also how unfortunate to find your seat broken on a long haul flight.
Regarding the first point, yes, there’s absolutely an obligation for a traveler to be notified of a schedule change. The traveler claims she never received notice of this, which is obviously an issue. That being said, the challenge is that sometimes emails end up in spam folders, etc.
When you redeem points for an award ticket entirely on another airline and there’s a schedule change, the operating airline pushes the schedule change to the ticketing airline, and once the itinerary is “cleaned up,” a new receipt should go out.
There are always things that can go wrong and reasons a traveler may not see the email. So not to blame the traveler here, but there’s an important lesson to be learned — always check the status of your flight leading up to your departure. Always. Every time. Without exception. I imagine that most frequent travelers know this, and I can understand how some less frequent travelers might assume it’s not necessary. But it really is. I couldn’t imagine booking a ticket months in advance, and never once checking on the status, until showing up at the check-in counter.
It’s another reason that as soon as I book an award ticket on a partner airline, I’ll also go to the website of the operating carrier, and sign up for any email alerts about the itinerary, so that I potentially receive schedule change notifications from two parties.
It’s the second issue that’s a bit more clear cut, though. If you redeem Aeroplan points for Air India business class, and if Air India fails to deliver, that’s an issue you need to take up with Air India. The traveler seems to be confused here on several fronts. This wasn’t a codeshare flight (not that this would even make a difference), and she says that “passing the buck to the operating airline is unacceptable.”
Like, if Aeroplan is responsible for the condition of Air India aircraft, maybe Aeroplan should just block Air India awards, based on the frequency of complaints. Compensation claims absolutely should be taken up with the operating airline, rather than the airline that let you redeem points for a ticket. After all, Air Canada wouldn’t even have access to whatever has been documented regarding issues onboard a flight.
So yeah, if you ask me — this is an expensive lesson to learn about always checking the status of your flight leading up to departure. And she absolutely should receive compensation from Air India for a broken seat.
Bottom line
A traveler redeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points for Air India business class from Tokyo to Delhi, and encountered some serious issues. She arrived at Narita, only to find that her flight was actually departing from Haneda, causing her to spend $431 on a taxi between the two airports, in order to not miss the flight. Then once onboard, she found the cabin to be in horrible condition, with an inoperable seat.
These are both legitimate frustrations. Regarding the onboard seat issues, that’s 100% on Air India, and it’s not Air Canada’s place to compensate for that. Regarding the schedule change notification, it’s hard to know for sure if Aeroplan sent a notification, and she just didn’t see it, or if it actually wasn’t sent. Regardless, it’s an important reminder to always check your flight status before departure.
Regardless, I think this is a bit of an extreme case of “this isn’t just about me,” and of holding Air Canada executives accountable. I think more important would be to hold Air India executives accountable for the incredibly poor maintenance of their aircraft, years after being privatized.
What do you make of this complaint about an Aeroplan award ticket on Air India?
"Ben roasts randos who mention him in misguided complaints on X" seems to be a new series at OMAAT.
Air India, nuff said!
I have a low level of sympathy for Ms. Mittal, but I do have a little.
We all know that not all airlines have the same level of attention to service, quality, consistency and safety. In this case, it seems like the root cause of the issues here is Air India - not Aeroplan. Air India changed the departure and Air India is responsible for their faulty equipment. While, I am sure Ms. Mittal...
I have a low level of sympathy for Ms. Mittal, but I do have a little.
We all know that not all airlines have the same level of attention to service, quality, consistency and safety. In this case, it seems like the root cause of the issues here is Air India - not Aeroplan. Air India changed the departure and Air India is responsible for their faulty equipment. While, I am sure Ms. Mittal chose the route based on convenience and award availability, Air India’s unreliability is well known. Having played the points game for more than 25 years now, there are simply some airlines that I will not touch no matter how attractive the award and routing maybe. Air India is on that list. I think the lesson here is to have a critical think about who you are flying.
With respect to being notified of a significant change, clearly that should have been communicated, no excuses. That said, this underscores the need to pay attention and expect changes. Schedules, layover times, equipment and routing changes are all common in air travel, regardless of the airline. That is just reality. While we can rightfully blame the airlines, that does not solve anything when you are stressed out and sitting in a broken seat on a 10 hour flight.
Like many things in life, you need to be your own agent and advocate.
Seems to be a normal Air Canada problem they are pathetic about sending out sked changes.
Air Canada did the ticketing they are responsible for notifying the passenger of a skeg change.
Sad, for what she paid to get from one airport to the other, she might have gotten a decent seat on a better airline.
To the overzealous USA "patriot": you must not fly USA airlines enough if you think their customer service is somehow better. There is no reason to feel superior, son.
How did she not expect a broken seat onboard Air India aircraft.
A name changing intellectual's wisdom would have been handy for her. "Visualise yourself flying Qsuites or Air France or JAL or something of that kind! ;)"
Customer service in Canada is often dictatorial and lousy. Prices are high. That is why Canada could benefit from being the 51st state but we shouldn't want those hateful and jealous people. Let France take them over.
Air Canada owns aeroplan, and ultimately not provide the product she purchased (points or cash). Air Canada has the responsibility to make her whole, and they can seek damages from Air India. I’m not sure how this could be viewed any other way.
@ SDF -- It can be viewed a different way because that's simply not how the airline industry works.
For example, the European Union dictates the compensation airlines have to pay in the event of delays or cancelations. If you are eligible, you need to request that from the operating airline, and not the airline that sold you the ticket. That's just one (concrete) example...
She has a contract with AC to get her in from Tokyo to whatever her final destination mat be in Air India business class, which is exactly what they delivered
Everyone judging her should take a chill pill. Almost everything she says/complains about is from ignorance, not because she's malicious or a crazy person.
Aeroplan partner rewards are simply another form of ticketing a flight. There was no "codeshare" with Air India/Air Canada. Therefore, her flight was the sole responsibility of Air India at that point. It was also her own fault for not checking HND vs NRT.
Seems to me she's just a very...
Everyone judging her should take a chill pill. Almost everything she says/complains about is from ignorance, not because she's malicious or a crazy person.
Aeroplan partner rewards are simply another form of ticketing a flight. There was no "codeshare" with Air India/Air Canada. Therefore, her flight was the sole responsibility of Air India at that point. It was also her own fault for not checking HND vs NRT.
Seems to me she's just a very inexperienced traveler and didn't know that she should be asking Air India for recourse.
It literally is a codeshare lol. The definition of a codeshare is this exact booking.
The issue is not with Air India as the contract was not between Air India and the customer. The booking and agreement was between the customer and Air Canada. Once a week on Mondays airlines "reconcile" their bookings and this is an issue Air Canada needs to resolve with it's customer, then they rectify with Air India afterwards.
@ Trevor Dow -- I understand it can be confusing, but it's not a codeshare. A codeshare is when one airline markets the flight of another airline with its own flight number (hence the "code" is being "shared"). In this case, the airlines share a mutual alliance, they have a loyalty collaboration, and they have an interline agreement, but this flight wasn't booked as part of any codeshare agreement. Not that it actually matters...
I think you summarized it very well. And this is why one must "garden your reservations." Take up the complaint(s) with Air India since they are the ones operating the flight, though I don't think they will go anywhere.
Also, a $431 "emergency" transport from NRT to HND? First of all, is that price normal? And what constitutes "emergency" transport? Like police escort?
The closest I have had to something like this was a Qatar...
I think you summarized it very well. And this is why one must "garden your reservations." Take up the complaint(s) with Air India since they are the ones operating the flight, though I don't think they will go anywhere.
Also, a $431 "emergency" transport from NRT to HND? First of all, is that price normal? And what constitutes "emergency" transport? Like police escort?
The closest I have had to something like this was a Qatar flight shifting from DXB to DWC. And then switching back to DXB. No notifications other than looking at the reservation occasionally on my American Airlines app.
While she sounds like an attention seeking nutcase, she does gave the right to be upset at the fact Aeroplan never sends schedule change updates.
If i was Air Canada i'd tell her to take a hike! Crazy bugger....entitiled, cause the seats broken? She's lucky she got a buggery seat!
“I rarely tweet”
False.
Maybe she meant “My tweets are rarely confused misdirected complaints”.
I dont think she did her homework for anything. Air India is just terrible overall and also annoying to see it come up for aeroplan redemptions. Always check status. Have your info readily available to carrier in case of issues of flight changes and not with aeroplan. Aeroplan is just a ticketing agent. Her seat broken, she has to pick that up with Air India. However i doubt anything will happen with the way they treat customers(they dont care).
Which airlines did she fly to earn the miles redeemed for this flight? Maybe they should also bear some of the blame.
Here's how she earned the miles: https://youtu.be/zZn0njzFL68?si=qAvCa4ncfmTE2yPp&t=169
Which credit card did she use to buy those tickets? I think they should also be held to account. I also vote to include the restaurant where she ate lunch that afternoon in the list of guilty parties.
She should also blame the government at the location she booked the ticket. Maybe global warming too?
Had a schedule change with Aeroplan too, far out. United cancelled a flight to swap to a United Express carrier. No email or notification. I only realized after I opened Flighty and the flight was marked as cancelled. When I checked the United app, I had already been rebooked onto the new flight that left a few minutes later. No big deal but I was surprised they're was no communication from Aeroplan or UA.
The schedule change happened to us recently. Booked an biz through aeroplan as an added segment on an intercontinental biz. A few days before departure my whole itinerary would appear not to be found on the Swiss system and even when trying on manage on Aeroplan it would error out.
Called Aeroplan and was told that there was a significant schedule change and apparently they had sent a notification 3 months prior. I am confident...
The schedule change happened to us recently. Booked an biz through aeroplan as an added segment on an intercontinental biz. A few days before departure my whole itinerary would appear not to be found on the Swiss system and even when trying on manage on Aeroplan it would error out.
Called Aeroplan and was told that there was a significant schedule change and apparently they had sent a notification 3 months prior. I am confident I never got the notification. However, was able to resolve with them over the phone and the Aeroplan team was very accomodating in rebooking the effected segment.
However, something is definitely broken with the Aeroplan notifications, but agree that it is always good to check with the operating airline as well.
The schedule change happened to us recently. Booked an biz through aeroplan as an added segment on an intercontinental biz. A few days before departure my whole itinerary would appear not to be found on the Swiss system and even when trying on manage on Aeroplan it would error out.
Called Aeroplan and was told that there was a significant schedule change and apparently they had sent a notification 3 months prior. I am confident...
The schedule change happened to us recently. Booked an biz through aeroplan as an added segment on an intercontinental biz. A few days before departure my whole itinerary would appear not to be found on the Swiss system and even when trying on manage on Aeroplan it would error out.
Called Aeroplan and was told that there was a significant schedule change and apparently they had sent a notification 3 months prior. I am confident I never got the notification. However, was able to resolve with them over the phone and the Aeroplan team was very accomodating in rebooking the effected segment.
However, something is definitely broken with the Aeroplan notifications, but agree that it is always good to check with the operating airline as well.
I rather lack sympathy here. I check my ticket with the other airline multiple times before departure, especially in the week or two leading up to the flight. And the seat is on Air India- but maybe she doesn’t want Air India compensation…
Ridiculous complaint. She should be grateful that AC even offered her a 200 CAD voucher…
Just FYI Air India sent out a mail to everyone on 13th April (not just those booked on Tokyo Flights) that their operations were going to be shifted from Narita to Haneda.