Toronto man 'baffled' after Air Canada says it had no record he ever boarded flight

Jake Muchnik flew to Florida with his friends for his golf trip but was met with a stroke of bad luck on his way home. (Courtesy of Jake Muchnik)

Jake Muchnik flew out to Orlando, Fla. for a weekend golf trip with a couple of his friends, when he was hit with a stroke of bad luck on his way home to Toronto.

The 25-year-old flew out of Toronto Pearson International Airport on April 6 and was set to return on April 9. Since he and his friends were going to be golfing on their last day in Florida, they decided to check in to their Air Canada flight ahead of time.

“They both check-in, tell me what seats they’re in, and I was unable to,” Muchnik told CTV News Toronto on Monday. “It said there was no record with my name and the booking confirmation. So obviously, [I was] panicking.”

Muchnik called American Express Travel, the company he booked his flights with, and Air Canada, who both told him his flight was cancelled because it appeared he never boarded his departure flight from Toronto.

But Muchnik did, in fact, make it to Orlando. Despite the flight being apparently delayed on the tarmac for half an hour, Muchnik says they had a “completely normal travel day” and that every part of the way flew without a hitch.

“I advised them that I have my boarding passes, and I had baggage tags because I shipped my golf clubs,” Muchnik said, and added that if he had not boarded the flight his bags should not have appeared at the same luggage carousel as his two friends.

“Once I kind of mentioned that, [Air Canada’s customer service representative] kind of shut down, and they said you need to contact Customer Relations. There’s nothing that we can do at customer service for you anymore. It was pretty upsetting because I was like, ‘How am I going to be getting home tomorrow?’”

Muchnik was able to purchase a one-way ticket back to Toronto Pearson on the same return flight, but it set him back $700. His round-trip flight had cost him $800.

“Fortunately, I was able to do that, but I mean, I could have been stuck there … if I was living paycheque-to-paycheque [...] and couldn’t afford a ticket, I would have been stuck in Orlando, so it’s kind of baffling that they were unwilling to help in the moment,” Muchnik said.

Once he touched down in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, Muchnik spoke with Air Canada again, who suggested he file a claim with customer relations – who he says would get back to him within 45 days.

“It’s been over a week now, and I haven’t heard anything from them,” Muchnik said.

A spokesperson for Air Canada confirmed they have been investigating the matter and said it appears there was a computer issue that affected Muchnik’s original flight.

“It was cancelled in our system and then immediately reinstated, and all the customers were rebooked and travelled as planned,” Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said in a statement. “However, it seems this individual was inadvertently not recorded as having been rebooked in our system, which we are still looking into.”

Air Canada’s customer relations team will connect with Muchnik, Fitzpatrick adds, refund his new ticket, and “offer a goodwill gesture.”

Muchnik told CTV News Toronto Tuesday night the airline had apologized and confirmed the entirety of his flights – all $1,500 – had been refunded.

“The girl told me in her 20 years of working for Air Canada, she’s never seen this, and she was saying it’s like a highly, highly rare occurrence,” Muchnik said.

While he would fly with Air Canada again, Muchnik says the whole experience has “tainted” his view, wondering what would happen if someone else were to find themselves in the same position.

“I just pray that I don’t have another incident like this because I know how hard it is to get the support you need,” he said.

Air Canada says it is standard practice that if a passenger does not show up for their flight, all remaining flight segments on that ticket are subsequently cancelled.