Update: Alex also got his flight delayed by 13 hours. After submitting a claim through this process, he managed to get $1,000 in compensation after 40 days of waiting. Thank goodness for regulation (see FTX).

My flight from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island to Toronto was cancelled this evening. Even though it is a rainy day, the flight was cancelled due to “crew constraints”. While this is significantly annoying as I specifically booked this flight in order to avoid the morning flight (that we’re on tomorrow, departing at 5:45 AM AST) it’s even more frustrating that Air Canada’s co-brand cards don’t cover this in their insurance package!

The Trip

I recently embarked on my first trip in almost a year, since my last trip to Vancouver in September of last year. My partner and myself were finally allowed to visit my parents in PEI, as they recently opened their borders (more PEI content to come). As Air Canada has had the free cancellation on Aeroplan tickets, I had booked several tickets to PEI when they were dirt cheap in the spring. For some new Aeroplan context, when cash prices are low, Aeroplan prices are REALLY low (hey - I said book your flights!). Two round trip tickets only ended up costing me about 35K Aeroplan points and $150.

That’s compared to what they cost now, three weekends from now, so not even last minute, would cost 176K Aeroplan points, gross!

Our Return Flight

The trip has been awesome, I highly recommend PEI to everyone. We were tested on arrival, but since then it’s almost as COVID doesn’t exist out here. That said, as we were enjoying our pre-departure drink today at Dalvay-by-the-Sea, I noted that our incoming flight was delayed due to “crew constraints”, although I didn’t think anything of it. About 30 minutes later, as we were finishing our beer, our flight was canceled. Oh no!

Unfortunately, in this weird COVID era, the 16:50 to Montreal is the latest flight leaving the island, which means I wanted to take the direct early morning flight tomorrow morning at 5:45 am, yuck. We were booked on the next flight out tomorrow morning, but that wasn’t going to work, as it’s in the middle of the workday. Even with my 25k status, it took 40 minutes to receive a call back from Air Canada on this busy long weekend. Luckily, I got through and I was able to grab the last two seats on the morning flight tomorrow. While on the phone, I also confirmed with the agent that we were entitled to expenses that we incurred while stuck here for 12+ hours.

After the call with Aeroplan, I then took a look through the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite card’s insurance Terms and Conditions (which they don’t make easy to find, by the way), and to my surprise, it’s pretty restrictive.

Specifically, digging into the T&C’s of the TD Aeroplan Infinite Insurance, it seems like the card only covers canceled and delayed flights because of:

• a weather delay

• a delay caused by the equipment (so plane issues)

• a delay caused by a strike

Interestingly enough, if there is a closure on the road to the airport, you might be able to make a claim if you get get a police report. Regardless, I wanted to confirm so I then called TD’s insurer Allianz (TD Aeroplan Insurance phone number is 1 (866) 374-1129) and they basically told me that I was out of luck.

I only have the Aeroplan card to receive cheaper Aeroplan flights and I usually charge my Aeroplan flights to the card and almost all my other travel to my BMO World Elite Mastercard, my go-to travel card for insurance (BMO World Elite Insurance). Clearly, the lesson is to use my BMO World Elite Mastercard for travel coverage, as the benefits are way more inclusive.

The Point

Air Canada’s cobrand card doesn’t provide all-encompassing delay insurance on their Co-brand credit card. Future me will make sure to book with my BMO Air Miles World Elite Mastercard to ensure coverage on my Aeroplan bookings. Interestingly enough, it seems like I will be eligible for the Air Passenger Protection Regulations new protections and will be eligible for $1000, more to come on that!