Canada was struggling with a wave of cancelled flights, lost baggage claims, and insanely long lines to get through security or customs in July 2022. It sucks the joy out of travelling, but I had to fly over the Pacific anyway. I was prepared for things to be messy, but my trip with Canada’s national airline was way worse than I ever could have imagined.
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This all kicked off right after I booked flights to surprise my dad for his 60th birthday.
My flights from New Zealand home to Canada went off without a hitch. I arrived at YYZ on time and well-rested. My checked bag was first off the carousel and in perfect condition. Life was good. I thought the internet was just being dramatic and stopped worrying about getting back.
Surprising my dad was a big success (though for a moment I thought I’d given him a heart attack, he looked like this) and I enjoyed 3 weeks at home with my family.
*Shifting to present tense for dramatic effect.*
I’m now on my way back to Auckland, flying back with Air Canada through the US. Air Canada for the Toronto to LA leg, then LA to Auckland with Air New Zealand. Dream combo.
Before I even check in at the Toronto airport, the info boards are showing my plane is delayed by 2 hours. By the time I’m through security, it’s 3 hours — and I only had a 3-hour layover in LA. At this point, all I can really do is hope the Air NZ flight is delayed, too.
There's an Air Canada Customer Service desk so I go investigate.
I want to know if there’s anything they can do on this end to help smooth things over when I get to LAX. They say I have to wait to speak to the Air Canada booking agent IRL when I land in the US to get on the next flight.
There’s only one direct flight from LAX to AKL per day, and it was hard enough to get a ticket over a month ago. So I’m not expecting anything to be open and waiting for me… but ok.
The flight finally leaves, only 3 hours delayed total.
Arriving at LAX is hectic from the get-go. There are very few signs, and I only find my way to the Air Canada luggage service desk by asking various airport staff to point me in the right direction. I want to check out the luggage situation first before getting a replacement flight. I’m not sure if I have to pick up my bags before I get on a new plane, or if they’ll just automatically follow me.
For context, the baggage situation is BAD globally at this time — news stories all over the world about baggage going 100% missing or getting loaded on the wrong plane.
I want to make sure I’ve got them safe and sound because this is one of the consistent issues I keep hearing about. And outside the baggage office is completely surrounded by miscellaneous baggage. Hundreds of bags. Horrible sign.
But the baggage guy is an angel.
He sets it up so my bags will follow me on a new flight and arrive in Auckland when I do. He also says he can book me a new flight, which is a relief. However, there aren’t any Air NZ flights to Auckland any time soon. I even suggest staying in LA for a few days on my own dollar (I work remotely, after all) but he says there’s nothing for the foreseeable future.
My other options are a Jetstar flight through French Polynesia or a Qantas flight through Sydney. If I could hang out in French Polynesia for a few days, maybe! But two long Jetstar flights? Absolutely not. I pick the Qantas option leaving tomorrow morning.
He gives me this... ticket?
Then my helpful pal tells me how to get up to the Air Canada check-in desk where they can hook me up with a hotel voucher and I can get some rest. Bless him.
I find my way to the desk.
It’s 10 PM in LA, and I guess no other Air Canada flights are departing or arriving tonight because this whole end of the terminal is completely empty. It’s just one guy behind a desk.
He doesn’t really know what to do. He seems scared of me, but I swear I’m being nothing but friendly and patient. I know these delays aren’t the customer service team’s fault. He must be new, so I give him some space to figure it out. He says the voucher will take 10 minutes.
He also hands me two $10 “meal” vouchers for the airport. So I can probably go buy one airport-priced tea now, thanks. The guy encourages me to go sit somewhere rather than hover at the desk. There’s no one even here, but fine.
While I’m waiting, a girl who can’t be older than 19 or 20 comes to the desk, eyes puffy and red from crying, looking confused and hoping for help. She was on the same Air Canada flight as me and missed her connection to Melbourne, so we’re in the same boat.
The AC representative says he’ll call and ask for another voucher, and as I haven’t gotten mine yet, I’m hoping this will speed up the process a little. The clock is ticking on how much sleep I’ll actually be able to get at this point because my new flight is in the morning.
I even pull the epilepsy card to create some urgency.
To no avail. What’s the point of having a life-threatening illness if it won’t get you stuff?
We wait and wait and wait. I check in with him a few times and he acts like I’m being completely unreasonable, even though it’s been an hour and he told me 10 minutes. Cannot understand how it can take any time to get a hotel voucher, let alone this much time. I’m trying to be patient but I have no confidence in this person and I get the vibe he just wants me to disappear.
The crying girl sits down across the room and he promises to call her up as soon as we have vouchers.
I stick around the desk this time, in part to dodge the guy freestyle rapping and talking to himself at the far end of the terminal and the other guy frantically walking around and talking very loudly on speakerphone about how he lost his passport. Chaos.
No progress
I ask if I can just book my own hotel because I need to get to sleep ASAP – emphasizing the epilepsy once again. He either doesn’t care or doesn’t know what that is. I give him my best acting to demonstrate a full-body shake to support what I’m telling him, but I’ve never seen anyone care less about anything before in my life lol.
But he lights up at my self-booking suggestion and says it’s definitely possible. I get the the customer service contact info, and he promises that if I keep my receipts and “document everything” (lol like I’m not already doing that) I can request hotel room reimbursement from Air Canada.
So here I am trying to book my own hotel room online just to get the heck out of here. But the LAX wi-fi isn’t strong enough for anything more than text-based stuff like Messenger. I have international calling minutes though!
As I’m going through the automated selections to reach a booking agent at a nearby hotel, an Aussie couple arrives at the desk, delayed by the same Air Canada flight and looking for a place to sleep.
It’s been at least an hour since I got to the desk, so I have no idea how they got here so much later than me. But this airport is confusing af, and maybe they had more drama with the baggage people than I did or something. I don’t ask.
Out of nowhere, a new AC crew member appears and is there to help. He’s able to materialize some vouchers for this couple within a matter of minutes, and because I’m hanging around the desk, the guy who’s been “helping” me to this point asks his friend to get a voucher for me too.
Relieved, I pop over to the sitting area to let the younger girl who was crying know they’ve finally figured it out and we have a place to sleep.
But for whatever reason, they won't give her a voucher.
I’m shocked. She’s alone, barely an adult, and *in tears*. It’s also their literal obligation to give you a place to sleep when they delay flights. So I have no idea why any of this has been so difficult.
I’m not trying to get the Aussie couple bumped out, but I’m also like… they just got here? I point out that the young girl is upset, travelling alone, and has been waiting almost as long as I have, and both Air Canada guys basically shrug their shoulders.
It’s clear to me that the inexperienced employee has completely forgotten about the girl. I’m not even sure he put in a request for any vouchers in the first place because the other guy made it happen so quickly.
No idea what his deal is, but it’s abundantly clear he doesn’t have voucher power.
I ask the more competent AC agent if we can get another voucher for this girl. He just says whatever this means: “Sometimes it takes 2 minutes, sometimes it takes 2 hours,” and quickly disappears again. Back to whatever desk the Aussie couple found him at, I guess.
How can it take 2 hours? The hotel has rooms tonight, or it doesn’t.
At this point, we've been standing here for an hour and a half.
I technically have my freedom as I have a voucher with my name on it… but I don’t feel like I can leave this young girl here in this weird, empty terminal in a foreign country. The Aussie couple feels the same, so we’re sort of all in this together. The useless Air Canada guy we’ve been communicating with is literally turning off the lights and shutting down the baggage conveyor belt while reassuring me he’s not going anywhere. I thought it impossible, but the mood in here is now even more grim.
I call the Hyatt Regency, the hotel they’ve given me a voucher for, to ask if there’s any way they can squeeze in another person. The guy on the other end of the phone seems confused because they have plenty of rooms available.
I could riot.
Instead. we just focus on getting out of this hellhole.
There’s a hotel shuttle that takes us a while to find because, again, this airport is severely lacking signage for such a central transfer hub. It’s now after midnight. We landed at 9:45pm.
I look at the price of an Uber to the Hyatt so we can get just outta here faster and get to sleep, but it’s an astounding $50 USD for a 5-minute drive. No thanks.
Are Americans ok???? How do you guys afford stuff?
The shuttle finally rolls up, and the young girl seems much more at ease, chatting to us about her Wiggles coin collection on the way to the hotel. She’s travelling by herself for the first time and only came without her family so she could get back to university on time. None of us could have predicted this mess, but I think she was especially overwhelmed.
As we exit the shuttle, the driver tells us off for not tipping.
None of us have cash in any currency, let alone USD, because none of us planned on being here. None of us want to be here. I can’t imagine many people who stay at an airport hotel are prepared to tip unless they’re American and flying domestic. Anyway, that was the last thing any of us needed and it was rude as hell.
I explain the situation at the Hyatt.
They have rooms, but the cheapest one is $300 USD. Insane.
The younger girl starts sheepishly looking through her bag, crying again. I just think about how I would have handled this when I was 18 and travelling alone for the first time. It would have been overwhelming, even as someone actively looking for some adventure. She just wants to get back to school.
I pay for her room with every intention of using the contact details the front desk guy gave me previously to have it reimbursed by the airline. There’s absolutely no reason she should have been without a place to sleep tonight.
I thought about offering to let her sleep in my room, but I don’t want her to think it’s a good idea to sleep in sleep in strangers’ hotel rooms when you’re lost and alone.
My flight leaves early tomorrow, but the Australian couple and solo traveller are all leaving later in the day. They arrange to meet her in the hotel lobby so they can head back to the airport together.
It’s past 1:30 AM when I get to sleep with an alarm set for 6 AM. I need to get back to the airport on time for my flight.
When I get to the Qantas check in desk, they ask me if I'm aware that I have a standby ticket.
No…. I did not know that. The Air Canada booking agent conveniently forgot to mention it. He was not so helpful after all. Standby is not mentioned anywhere on the ridiculous “ticket” he gave me either. Imagine that.
So, I don’t have an allocated seat, I just have to hope someone doesn’t show up. What’s more, is that I’ll only find out once I’m through security and at the gate. And if there’s no space for me? I’ll have to go back out and deal with Air Canada again, not Qantas.
The Qantas guy prints me my semi-valid boarding pass.
Read more: Why Flair is Canada’s Worst Airline
The idea of going back to that desolate purgatory, mixed with my severe lack of sleep, brings out a few tears.
When the guy who rebooked my flight gave me these options:
1. Jetstar through French Polynesia, or
2. Qantas through Sydney
I asked if I could stick with Air New Zealand.
I told him I didn’t mind staying a few extra days to fly directly with the airline I had originally booked. At the time, I didn’t think I had a reason to question him when he said they were full for weeks.
But while I’m waiting at the Qantas gate and brainstorming alternative solutions if I can’t get on this flight, I check the Air New Zealand app and find there’s space today, tomorrow, and the day after.
I can understand if they don’t want to give me the $10k business class seat available today. But why the hell couldn’t they just book me an economy ticket for tomorrow? Why so shady?
It feels like a true miracle when my name is called at the gate, and I’m given two new boarding passes that contain real seat numbers instead of SBY (Standby). They’ve even treated me to the first row in the economy section, where I have extra legroom! I’ve never been happier with a middle seat. Just glad to be here!
Home sweet second home in Auckland.
I touch down and swear I can hear the tui birds singing from the tarmac. All is smooth getting off the plane and getting through customs.
At the baggage carousel, I wait and wait, but my bag never comes around. I watch as the luggage gets picked up and the crowd starts to thin. Only a few sad straggler bags are left, and mine are not among them. I’m travelling with two checked bags full of clothing, art, and other stuff I’m trying to slowly move from Toronto to Auckland. My parents sent presents for Chesney. All currently lost in transit.
This part is actually less dramatic and stressful because I’m already home. I have a full closet of stuff back at my apartment, so as long as my bags arrive, they can get here when they get here.
My bags arrive two days later.
All that’s left to do now is get my airport hotel refund. I check my bank statement, and instead of charging me $300 USD, the Hyatt has charged me $300… three times.
That’s right, 900 USD for a stranger I don’t even know to get a hotel room the airline should have covered.
- The hotel’s records show that they’ve only charged me once.
- The airline says they can’t reimburse me because I should have gotten a hotel voucher lol.
- My bank eventually — and I’m talking a couple of months later — reverses the entire charge. So I did eventually break even on paying for that girl’s hotel room.
I feel confident when I say I’ll never fly through LAX again. Air Canada, you’re also on thin ice.
Naomi Lai
Naomi is a Canadian travel editor and writer with 13 years of international travel across Southeast Asia, Europe, South America, New Zealand, and beyond. She covers everything from budget backpacking to luxury travel — always from personal experience.
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