I've written to Air Canada customer service on this (just after posting this).

Well, my solution is to fly Southwest which doesn't play these stupid games with change fees. However I realize they don't fly everywhere.

One unintended consequence of the airline pushing back your flight can be an extra day of rental car cost.

I find I have to time my flights, and arrival at the airport pretty carefully to make sure I don't hit the witching hour where I get charged an extra day for the rental car.

On the plus side, changing your flight time is more honest than letting your board the plane, slamming the door shut, and letting you sit on the Tarmac for two hours.

They seem to have eliminated the 8:45 a.m. flight. Had I wanted to be on the 10 a.m. flight, and had I asked them to switch me to it, they would have my $200. As I noted in the post, it only seems fair that it works both ways.

Same thing with professional services. Your dentist/therapist can charge you $65 for changing your appointment without 48 hours notice, but can change your appointment at the last minute without penalty.

There was a Seinfeld episode about that.

I've written to Air Canada customer service on this (just after posting this). ~ Posted by: Amy Alkon at February 6, 2016 6:10 AM

You didn't sue them for a lifetime supply of Kit-Kats?

Yea, you make a good point. If YOU want to change they charge you for it; but, if THEY change you just have to put up with it.

Only once did I see an airline make a financial offer. It was for a flight that was overbooked, so, they were asking folks to volunteer to give up their seat in exchange for the next day flight (This was Tokyo to New York) and a free hotel stay in Tokyo. But, there were no takers.

Then they made the appeal that there were several US servicemen trying to get back to the States and would someone please consider the US service men? Still no takers.

Then they finally offered the free hotel stay and US$1,000.

I was tempted every time; but, I was heading back to the states for a funeral.

That $1,000 offer, though, got several people to volunteer to be bumped off.

It is funny how they didn't make the financial offer right away. The cheapskates!

Also, not sure where you were flying to, and for whatever it is worth, the two times that I flown to Canada (Toronto both times) I have flown with Porter Airlines and loved it!

Their airport in Toronto is at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on an island near downtown Toronto. The free ferry ride to the airport is literally just a stone's throw away!

Seriously, it takes longer to board the ferry than it does for it to cross to the airport. I think the ferry ride is less than 2 minutes; nobody even bothers to sit down.

They also have a fantastic waiting lounge - free snacks, Wi-Fi, and the last time I was there they had cubicles with electrical outlets for laptop, etc. (Of course, good luck grabbing a cubicle, they are always full). Beats the hell out of Pearson which is way outside Toronto.

I just checked, it seems that they don't fly to/from LA except through a connection with Jet Blue. Bummer! But, it makes sense as all their planes are turbo props, not jets. A turbo prop from LA to Toronto (their main hub) would be a long trip.

The only instance I ever personally heard about an airline providing some sort of financial restitution for delays was when a mate of mine was coming home from Auckland to Melbourne after a skiing trip. I can't remember the cause of the delay - something mechanical perhaps - but the flight was going to be over six hours late to leave.

Faced with the rebellious rumblings of a crowd of Aussie skiers and various backpackers, they did the only sensible thing - opened the airport bar for free drinks. Presumably the airline didn't directly own the bar but promised to reimburse them. Their promises must have been pretty wide ranging, because according to my friend the bar staff didn't bother with pouring shots but unscrewed the dispensers from the tops of the bottles and said "just say when?"

Apparently worked a treat, and a bunch of happy but weaving passengers eventually got on the plane and got home.

On the plus side, changing your flight time is more honest than letting your board the plane, slamming the door shut, and letting you sit on the Tarmac for two hours.

Good point Isab. My wife and I had an interesting flight home once. I didn't have any real valid ID at the time, but plenty of photo ID from various building sites that were generally good enough for domestic flights (not really kosher, but I'd done it five or six times before, and got complacent). But our second leg home was on an international flight that had dropped off half its passengers in Sydney and the airline had sold the empty seats as domestic transfers.

However, that meant going through customs. They would have been happy with a driver's license, no passport required, but I didn't have one. I tried my collection of (more than half a dozen) photo IDs, but no dice. So I sent my wife ahead of me and said I'd make my own way home.

I bought a new flight from the domestic terminal and got home ok a few hours later. But I nearly beat my wife home. They loaded her plane, she got towed out to the tarmac, and sat there for three hours - for an hour flight.

I think something really needs to be done but I don't have a good idea what.

On the last tour I took there was a family on the same tour had their flight cancelled mid trip which delayed them until the next morning. SO they had to meet the tour at our first stop by taxi. I just Googled and it looks like that fare would be about 200 pounds. On the way home we were stuck at the gate with door closed for an hour because of "paperwork issues" ... so extract hour on the front of a 10 hour flight.

A few years ago when travelling in New Zelaand my flight was cancelled and I was rescheduled on the same flight the next day without them telling me. I was saved by my travel agent noticing the change and making things better (i had to fly out of NZ at 7am to Sydney where I had a 7 hour lay over. At least they considered that part of their change so didn't charge me/