Man says his 10-hour trip to Brussels turned into 36 hours. Then Air Canada gave him $15 for the trouble: ‘Count your days’

A planned roughly 10-hour trip from Toronto to Brussels stretched into 36 hours of travel after a missed connection and a rebooking that included a flight the passenger said never operated. Kevin, who posts on TikTok as @kevinandassociates, described the experience in a video that has drawn over a hundred thousand views under the caption “Count your days @Air Canada.”

He said he was flying from Toronto to Montreal to Brussels when a staffing issue on the Toronto flight made him late for his Montreal connection. Air Canada rebooked him, he explained, onto an Air France flight to Paris followed by a Rwanda Air flight to Brussels. Kevin stated that the Rwanda Air segment did not exist and called it a phantom flight.

While holding up a document, he asked viewers to guess how much the airline offered him for the disruption. He said he had to negotiate and mentioned threatening to email the general counsel of loyalty, whom he described as a Windsor alumni. Kevin then showed a red-and-white Air Canada voucher and said the amount was $15 for what he called a 10-hour flight that turned into 36 hours. He ended the clip by saying he just wanted to shower.

Kevin says the airline rebooked him on a nonexistent flight while he was already airborne

In the video, Kevin apologized for his appearance and repeated that the original routing was Toronto to Montreal to Brussels. He described being rebooked onto the Air France and Rwanda Air combination and then stated, “The only problem, Rwanda Air didn’t exist. A phantom flight. The flight didn’t exist.” He said he just wanted to shower after the long day.

In a follow-up TikTok video, Kevin said he was in Munich, Germany. He explained that Air Canada had put him on yet another connection that routed him through the German city on the way to Brussels. He noted that he was about five hours from Luxembourg and joked that he might go there, but added that his next flight would take him to Brussels. Travel mishaps like this are not unusual, and one flyer was even bumped despite reaching the gate in time.

In a later TikTok video, Kevin said it had been about 72 hours since he left his front door. He stated that the actual travel time to Brussels ended up at about 51 hours. He repeated that Air Canada rebooked him while he was in the air onto a flight that did not exist and added a shout-out to Rwanda Air. He said people know him as Calm Kevin, but that he had expected the airline to contact him after the first video received hundreds of thousands of views.

Kevin said Air Canada had his phone number, that people had tagged the airline in the video, and that his email is in his bio. He stated that none of those channels produced a response. He then described deciding to file a complaint with the airline and with the Canadian Transportation Agency at the same time.

While he was gathering evidence, he said a reporter emailed him. He described switching into what he called Petty Kevin mode, speaking with the reporter for multiple minutes, and then beginning to draft a complaint template that other travelers could use by adding their own details.

According to Air Canada’s website, compensation eligibility under the Canadian Transportation Agency’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations depends on the reason for the late arrival at the final destination. The airline notes that confirming the final arrival delay reason can take up to 72 hours after a passenger reaches the destination, and that the reason assigned at arrival may differ from the reason given for a departure delay.

Passengers can check eligibility through the airline’s Compensation Eligibility Tool 72 hours after arrival by entering their booking reference, name, and flight date, per the website. The airline has also drawn attention for other onboard incidents, including a flight that aborted takeoff after reports of screaming.

Viewers who watched Kevin’s first video pushed him to pursue formal compensation rather than accept the $15 voucher. One commenter urged him to act quickly, writing, “You better go on the air Canada website and submit your claim rnnnnn quicklyyyyy.” Another was more direct about his rights, stating, “You’re suppose to be compensated. Please file a claim.”

Several responses focused on how little the voucher seemed to match the length of the delay. One viewer called the amount insulting, writing, “$15 seems more disrespectful than $0.” Another described a personal reaction, saying, “I’m sick to my stomach on your behalf.” A separate commenter pointed to travel insurance as a practical alternative, writing, “That’s why I have a travel credit card and use it for travel insurance… these airlines dgaf.”