You may have to at least take a bite of this website. Airlines have almost no aircraft that are not being used for revenue or in maintenance. i would guess that AC would have 1 or 2 spare aircraft on any day. Some days they might have 1 or none.I used to train pilots when they actually had to train in the aircraft. Now they are trained completely in the simulators. The only way that I could get an airplane was to show up at 2 AM and use the airplane until about 6 AM. I mention Miami because that would be the nearest AC station with more than one flight. I use that as an example. Whether you were going to Toronto or someplace else, the same facts apply. It would have been cost prohibitive and nearly impossible to do what you proposed. Every major airline has a team of aircraft and crew schedulers that are on duty 24/7 to resolve problems such as the one you describe. If there had been a spare aircraft in MIA for instance-a one in 5 million chance-AC would still have had to get a crew there to fly the plane to MBJ. That crew would have been dispatched from Toronto or Montreal most likely. All this would have to be weighted against perhaps another irregular operation. In their judgement, they thought that you would be the least inconvenienced by taking the course that they did.If they had somehow found a replacement aircraft, then they would have had an empty airplane in MBJ which would have caused a cancelled flight in another instance.When you drive your car, do you have a spare on standby with a reserve driver? Sometimes we have car trouble and we make the best of it. We meet nice people and perhaps see a place that we have never seen before and eat a an interesting restaurant. That is the nature of travel. Where did they lodge you in MBJ. Did you meet some fellow traveler? I will wager that you have enjoyed most of your flights on AC and other airlines. I predict that you will enjoy many more flights in the years to come. I have always wondered how those gate agents kept their cool and sanity while dealing with unreasonable passengers. And I've never seen anyone eat a website.