Air China changed my departure date. What to do?

Question

I am currently in Thailand and I called Air China as my flight kept getting changed since I booked it. When I booked, my layover was about 2 hours in China. Then it changed to 9 hours, so I phoned them and they said I can use their lounge. After trying to book it online for an hour and a half I phoned them again and now they are telling me my flight has been totally cancelled.

I have not received any flight change notification on this like the other times, but they are telling me now I have the choice of coming back a day earlier or later.

Can I get compensation for this? Or since it is a Chinese airline, can they pretty much do what they want?

Answer 1

All airlines are free to move or cancel flights if they want. They normally don't do that for fun, as they lose a lot of money, and anger customers, but there is no law that forces them to fly as originally scheduled.

You are at minimum entitled to either an alternative connection, or a full reimbursement; if you don't like the new flight connection (or they can't provide one), you get your money back.
Depending on the location of your departure airport and/or the airlines home country, there might be additional legal rights for you; especially if the change or cancellation happens on short notice, or if it leaves you stranded in another location/country. Otherwise, you get at best your money back, and that's it.