Receiving "advisory" emails from Air Canada in advance of flights

[peacefrogdog]

Any experiences with receiving such emails? Specifically I received an email related to a planned flight from YYZ-MCO Tuesday Jan 23rd. The GTA is expected to get anywhere from 3-7 cm of snow that day.. It basically says my upcoming flight may be affected by snow, but currently the flight is operating and no action is required. However because I "may want to make alternate travel arrangements to avoid any potential disruption to plans" they are offering a change in flight for free to leave earlier in the day (which I can't do due to work) or up to 3 days later.

The last time I received an email like this, the weather turned out not to be bad, but they cancelled the flight anyway and I got rescheduled to one leaving 8 hours later. That they sent it out again makes me wonder whether there is another threat to this flight leaving on time or leaving at all.

Have others received similar emails? Is it just Air Canada trying to provide as much information as possible? Or sending out hoping people will volunteer to change flights (to minimize the demand on customer service if the flight does end up being cancelled??

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[hdrolfe]

Oh I got one like that the day before I was due to debark in Orlando to fly home. Something about possible freezing rain in Canada that could impact my flight. Which was a bit weird since there was none in the forecast I could see. Ended up being nothing. Though I was still delayed 2 1/2 hours due to a mechanical issue on the plane. But it wasn't for the weather.

I think they are just covering their butts?

 

[peacefrogdog]

Interesting that in your example, the delay was due to a mechanical issue and not weather. For my cancelled flight (before which I got this weather email), the reason was a crew issue and not weather.

 

[damo]

Yes. This has happened before to me. It was because of a snow prediction. We couldn't change it due to our own schedule restrictions. The flight was delayed due to weather but not too bad.

 

[peacefrogdog]

I'm noticing my flight (departing at 1620) and the later one at 1900 is showing a lot of seats available. In contrast the ones departing earlier tomorrow are near full. What's the degree of worry that Air Canada may cancel the flight due to unsold seats (or those who decided to change the flight today), and then just blame it on the weather?

 

[Donald - my hero]

I'm noticing my flight (departing at 1620) and the later one at 1900 is showing a lot of seats available. In contrast the ones departing earlier tomorrow are near full. What's the degree of worry that Air Canada may cancel the flight due to unsold seats (or those who decided to change the flight today), and then just blame it on the weather?

That just says to me that other people were able to switch flights to avoid a possible weather related delay - we've enjoyed extra nights in Disney for the same reason because our schedules are flexible. I highly doubt air canada will intentionally mess around with one or 2 flights, their schedules are a constant dominoes game! The YYZ - MCO ones in particular, tend to be turn- around flights.