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Blame Air Canada!
Air Canada had to pay a Yukon couple $10,000 after failing to get them to their destination following an oversold flight, forcing them to miss out on the trip of a lifetime. The decision was made at the Small Claims Court in Yukon, which ruled that the pair had been “treated shamefully” by the airline.
“This was for a trip my husband and I tried to take to Cuba where there was a denied boarding that led to a 3-day ordeal of different airports and hotels and eventually ended with us never making it to Cuba,” one of the plaintiffs, named Tosh Southwick, lamented on Facebook.
The comedy of air-ors occurred two years ago while the pair planned to take a kid-free, nine-day tour to Cuba in 2023, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported. They had reportedly saved up for years, gotten time off work and enlisted a babysitter to look after their three children during their vacay.
Their hope of a dream getaway soon fizzled after they arrived at the Toronto airport to fly to Cuba and discovered that their Air Canada flight had been overbooked, per the decision.
The couple graciously decided to give up their seats after the airline informed them that they’d be compensated and rescheduled on an American Airlines flight later that day.
It wasn’t until hours later that they discovered that the latter flight wasn’t available, but they never got an explanation why.
Things only snowballed after Southwick and her husband were diverted to Montreal with Air Canada reps claiming there’d be a replacement plane from Air Transat waiting to take them to Cuba.
This turned out not to be the case when they were ferried to Toronto and then on to Edmonton, with no discernable route to their final destination offered by Air Canada.
“It appears that Air Canada did not even have evidence of a communication with Air Transat or American Airlines,” the decision stated.
As a result, the couple’s dream of a Cuban getaway was shattered. To salvage their vacation, the Canucks booked a trip to Cancun, Mexico, but this forced them to take more time off work and lose income.
Justice Katherine L. McLeod claimed that the passengers had a “horrendous experience” and accused Air Canada of violating Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), which outline obligations should airlines have to their flyers in the event of flight cancellations, delays and other issues.
These rules stipulate that a carrier that offers benefits to a passenger who volunteered to give up their seats on an overbooked flight — such as rebooking — must confirm this in writing to said flyer passenger before the flight departs. The couple had reportedly never received this.
The airline initially coughed up $1,800 for hotel and food charges, but the judge deemed this insufficient to cover their costs — including lost income and booking a new flight to their new destination — and had them fork over $10,000.
Southwick wrote on Facebook that they hope their case “helped to set a new precedence that hopefully others can use in their cases.”
Justice McLeod said their ordeal highlighted the perils of airlines using automated booking systems.
“While I appreciate the wonders of air travel has been advanced by computers, this case is an example of why computers cannot be the only decision maker,” she wrote. “Had a human being looked at the available alternative travel for the defendants, provided the proper documentation, examined the feasibility of onward travel plans chosen by the corporation computers, much of this would have been avoided.”
