B.C. passengers win compensation for cancelled Air Canada flight

Air Canada has been ordered to pay greater than $1,500 in damages and charges to 2 B.C. passengers whose journey plans had been delayed greater than seven hours resulting from staffing constraints amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

British Columbia’s Civil Resolution Tribunal discovered that Inayat Singh and Suk Young Yoon had been owed the compensation underneath the federal Air Passenger Protection Regulations after their flight was cancelled they usually had been rebooked on a later flight.

The pair had been scheduled to go away Victoria International Airport at 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 22. 2021, and arrive in Toronto at 7:56 a.m.

However, the flight was cancelled a number of hours earlier than its scheduled departure resulting from what the airline known as “crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations,” based on the tribunal’s determination, issued Thursday.

Air Canada rebooked the pair on one other flight arriving in Toronto by 3:30 p.m. that very same day.

The firm argued it didn’t owe any compensation to Singh and Yoon, saying such flight disruptions can’t be analyzed individually, however have to be assessed “within the context of the aviation ecosystem” in the course of the pandemic, which was past the airline’s management.

Tribunal vice-chair Shelley Lopez discovered Air Canada’s response “insufficient” and “vague.”

“There is no express exception under the APPR [Air Passenger Protection Regulations] for delays due to disruptions in the overall ‘aviation ecosystem,’ nor are there any express exceptions due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lopez stated.

“I find the delay was within Air Canada’s control and was not for safety purposes.”

The tribunal ordered the airline to pay the passengers $1,561.78 inside 21 days of the choice. The whole compensation contains $1,400 in damages, $125 in tribunal charges and $36.78 in pre-judgment curiosity.