Tips about Toronto

In an era of continued cost-cutting, the country’s largest airline yesterday rolled out a new service called “On My Way” that, for a fee, promises to help passengers cope with delays and cancellations beyond the airline’s control, including bad weather or airport traffic.

“This is something that many airlines used to do in-house,” said Rick Erickson, a Calgary-based airline consultant. “But since the advent of the low-cost carrier, everybody wants cheap fares.”

Air Canada said passengers who opt to pay an additional $25 one-way on short-haul flights and an extra $35 one-way on long-haul routes within North America will receive “speedy” access to “specially-trained” customer service agents who will help rebook flights on Air Canada or other airlines, as well as pay for hotel stays and meals, if necessary.

Air Canada said the program, which applies to any flight cancelled within 48 hours of the scheduled departure, goes beyond the industry practice of assisting customers affected by schedule changes deemed to be the airline’s fault, such as mechanical problems with aircraft, scheduling glitches or crew members failing to show up for flights.