AC has stranded us in Athens … advice?

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Didn't opt in to the baggage floatation add-on.

The bag was 51lbs so they had to drop some payload.

[shermanator]

Originally Posted by Amethyst

And United and WestJet, in the spirit of showing that Air Canada isn't the only airline who makes travellers' lives miserable, did their part by chucking my baggage in the ocean, so I could spend another hour reporting that after 20+ hours of travel.

Add Porter to the list. Bought last minute tickets from Montreal to Calgary so I could get back Monday night. They didn't bother to put half the flight's bags on the plane. Have gotten one of my two bags back but not the other 3 days later.

[Locke]

So how is hixxes' 'Big Fat Greek Paramilitary Coup' coming along?

[hixxes]

Originally Posted by Locke

So how is hixxes' 'Big Fat Greek Paramilitary Coup' coming along?

Fired the first salvo today. Submitted our compensation claim. Now we wait.

Thanks again everyone. My wife made fun of me (just a bit) that one of the first places I turned was CP, even half way around the world.

Go Flames! Go CP!

[Acey]

Originally Posted by gasman

But did YYC have to pay for the airport up front. From what I could glean they pay about $50MM annually in rent. If we assumed a 30 year amortization that would have about a present value of only $1.1B which is way less than cost to build an airport. Comparing to say Denver where the airport is owned by the county, it is not funded by tax revenues, it is financially self sufficient, so someone has to pay for that, the debt servicing in 2024 for DEN was about $600MM which is much more than the rent YYC pays (Albeit, DEN does easily twice the revenue as Calgary)

Denver does 4x Calgary's passenger count annually. It's a bit unique in that it was built from scratch in 1995, which is obviously very new for a major world airport. Feds chipped in half a billion. The "someone" paying for DEN are passengers through PFC aka passenger facility charge, which was $10 USD if I remember correctly the last time I flew DEN-LAX, is quite a bit less than YYC's $35.

The other thing that happens at airports in the US is that the airlines pay for stuff. United spent $2.5B on Terminal B at Houston. American will dump $4B into a new terminal at Dallas. YYC's new terminal, whose primary user is WestJet, was about $2 billion. Who paid for it? YYC did, by assuming massive debt and charging you $35 per originating ticket. Canadian airlines pay 4x the fuel tax that US airlines do, double the landing fees, and double the taxes on a few other things.

At first glance it seems like the Canadian government wants you to stay home, but in fact they want you to fly because it's a goldmine of revenue for them. As I said earlier, if an airline charges how much the public thinks domestic airfare should cost in Canada... they simply go bankrupt. There's a loooong list of dead Canadian airlines to prove it.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Acey

Denver does 4x Calgary's passenger count annually. It's a bit unique in that it was built from scratch in 1995, which is obviously very new for a major world airport. Feds chipped in half a billion. The "someone" paying for DEN are passengers through PFC aka passenger facility charge, which was $10 USD if I remember correctly the last time I flew DEN-LAX, is quite a bit less than YYC's $35.

The other thing that happens at airports in the US is that the airlines pay for stuff. United spent $2.5B on Terminal B at Houston. American will dump $4B into a new terminal at Dallas. YYC's new terminal, whose primary user is WestJet, was about $2 billion. Who paid for it? YYC did, by assuming massive debt and charging you $35 per originating ticket. Canadian airlines pay 4x the fuel tax that US airlines do, double the landing fees, and double the taxes on a few other things.

At first glance it seems like the Canadian government wants you to stay home, but in fact they want you to fly because it's a goldmine of revenue for them. As I said earlier, if an airline charges how much the public thinks domestic airfare should cost in Canada... they simply go bankrupt. There's a loooong list of dead Canadian airlines to prove it.

It's also cursed:

https://www.travelandleisure.com/air...iracy-theories

[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean cursed is not the same as being the secret home of the Illuminati, but yeah Denver airport is fun to read about.

[Amethyst]

Three weeks after submitting a claim for my extra expenses (hotel in Italy and dog boarding in Calgary) and the 600 Euro penalty for delaying me over 24 hours, I got an email from Air Canada, agreeing to pay that. Now I must wait another 4-6 weeks for an e-transfer. I was fortunate that it was the Venice to Calgary portion of my flight that they cancelled.

[calumniate]

I got stuck in denver for 15 hours once. I had camping gear as carry-on so I couldn't ditch it. Was the worst.. the airplane had mechanical failure but they also have crazy weather and lightning, not unlike calgary. Eventually got to my destination but I was just toast

[Nyah]

The WestJet strike last summer started on the day we were supposed to fly home from a trip to the States. My husband was starting a new job a couple days after that so getting home was non-negotiable for us. We ended up needing to book a couple tickets in business class on Air Canada as our flight was cancelled. It was the last direct flight available out of NY for a few days (and the last two seats on the plane!), and it cost us just over $4K.

We kept all receipts and correspondence with WestJet and after many follow-ups, they (eventually) refunded us the whole thing, including the Uber ride we had to take to a different airport. I think AC is probably going to be paying out a fortune because of this.

[Amethyst]

Originally Posted by Nyah

The WestJet strike last summer started on the day we were supposed to fly home from a trip to the States. My husband was starting a new job a couple days after that so getting home was non-negotiable for us. We ended up needing to book a couple tickets in business class on Air Canada as our flight was cancelled. It was the last direct flight available out of NY for a few days (and the last two seats on the plane!), and it cost us just over $4K.

We kept all receipts and correspondence with WestJet and after many follow-ups, they (eventually) refunded us the whole thing, including the Uber ride we had to take to a different airport. I think AC is probably going to be paying out a fortune because of this.

I saw an article in the Globe and Mail the other day that predicts it will cost them $66 million just in what they owe people who were flying from the EU and the UK based on penalties for delays.