One of the reasons I really like credit card trip delay coverage is because a hotel room that an airline is going to give me during an overnight delay likely isn’t one I’d want to stay in. Three years ago, for instance, two Hainan Airlines passengers who did not know each other were forced to share a room at an S&M-themed hotel in Chongqing, China.
Now comes word that Air Canada placed a 71 year old woman and a man half her age into a single hotel room when they both misconnected after a flight delay, even though the two passengers didn’t know each other.
Elizabeth Coffi Tabu was flying Ottawa – Montreal – Paris on Air Canada last Friday, July 19 Her flight to Montreal was delayed causing her to miss her connection. She and another passenger in Montreal were told “there was only one hotel room available.”
[T]he agent gave them one hotel voucher and told them they would have to share a room. When they arrived at the hotel, the room only had one bed, she said.
Tabu’s daughter, Mahele Nyota, said: “The decision was he would be sleeping on the sofa [bed] and my mom in the bed.
Copyright: ronniechua / 123RF Stock Photo
The woman’s daughter lost her cool with the airline, and they managed to find her wheelchair-dependent mother a room at another hotel. Air Canada gave the woman an extra legroom seat in coach the next day and a $20 meal voucher, but she daughter thinks an apology is in order.
The airline, for its part, says they’re investigating how this happened. Their policy, after all, is for passengers to sleep in parked planes overnight.
The credit card trip delay and other benefits don’t work! My wife had to cancel an air canada flight to Chicago because that early morning her mom fell and was taken to emergency that earning morning for stroke. Air canada wanted to charge us more then the cost of flight to rebook. The chase sapphire reserve points and taxes we used to pay didn’t cover anything . The Allianz insurance for the credit card kept denying the claims and the chase executive dept where we filed CFPB complaint refused to help. We didn’t renew our chase sapphire reserve after that. I will never again use chase credit cards or points to pay for travel
“Oh, we see you have flown before. Sorry, coverage denied due to a pre-existing condition.”
@Juan – The pre-existing condition stuff is the easiest way out for insurers. Allianz didn’t get to be the biggest insurer on the planet by paying out claims every time your mom or kid got sick.
@Juan, my wife is the one flying not her mom. my wife had to cancel her trip that morning to return to ORD so she can spend sometime for her mom for her sudden serious health problem. Her mom lives in canada. my wife went there to meet her.NO PRE EXISTING anything.
correction: my wife had return flight to ORD that morning when her mom in the early morning fell and got taken to emergency room. My wife had to cancel her return flight cos no one would leave when your parent suffered serious health problem in front of you. air canada wouldnt do anything. Chase and the executive team wouldnt do anything. the allianz insurance with chase sapphire reserve kept playing game and kept denying claims. We sent everything thing that asked for but in the end it wasn’t worth the time we were wasting and we knew they wouldn’t do anything. It wasn’t a large amount or large number of points used though. NOT a big claim. She booked her own return flight week later .
She cancelled the card during renewal and we no longer use chase credit cards or points to pay for travel. I even pmed GARY about this over a year ago.
Jim, my condolences on your mother-in-law’s illness & your problems with Chase.
I recommend cleaning out your Chase points by transferring to Hyatt as you walk out the door.
I’m amazed her daughter was able to get through to someone at Air Canada who found another hotel room
Allianz… don’t get me started… I had a laptop in a laptop-designed back-pack (padded pocket, etc.). I had an exit row so had to place the bag overhead. After the flight I retrieved it, and went home. The next day I pulled out my laptop and the screen is cracked. It is a touch-screen laptop so rendered inoperable.
Allianz heard me and said I needed to have a report from the flight crew, made up on the flight, that confirmed the screen was damaged during the flight. Even if that were possible 24+ hours after the flight (trust me, I tried through AA’s customer service), how would the crew know that the laptop had not gone in the overhead with a cracked screen.
I am not buying Allianz travel insurance ever again, and am actively sharing my story with anyone who is considering them.
@Jim. I think Juan was being sarcastic saying that insurance says that if you have flown before then that is a pre existing condition. I think he was trying to sympathize with your issue.