Air Canada passenger claims he’s out hundreds of dollars in cancellation compensation

Another Air Canada passenger is blasting the airline for what they really feel is “terrible” customer support after having their flight immediately cancelled.

Steven Carkner claims the provider is attempting to dodge paying full compensation beneath Canada’s Air Passenger Bill of Rights by seemingly profiting from a loophole.

Carkner says he was attempting to fly residence to Ottawa to see his household on Father’s Day when his flight from Washington, DC was cancelled on the final minute.

“There was no direction about what to do or what came next, but eventually a gate agent came along and basically told us to leave the secure zone and go back to the agent at the start of the airport,” he informed CityNews.

An hour later, he says he obtained an electronic mail from Air Canada telling him he had been rebooked on a flight 38 hours later.

“It just automatically rebooked and it gave me the option of accepting this flight or don’t. That was it. No other option, no compensation, no explanation of where I should stay. And this is in Washington, DC, which is an expensive place to spend a weekend — especially Father’s Day weekend — when everything is booked.”

Carkner says the flight he was supplied was “terrible” — nearly 4 days later — and he may see different flights have been accessible that evening and the subsequent day, so he clicked the “no” possibility and Air Canada mechanically cancelled every thing and stated it will situation a $400 refund.

“It occurred to me they were hoping I would reject the flight because as soon as I indicated I wasn’t interested, it cancelled my itinerary and offered a refund and that was it. No confirmation, no other offer, nothing.”

Carkner says he needed to go residence so booked one other Air Canada flight the subsequent day at his personal expense.

“It struck me that with a nine-hour delay, under the new Air Passenger Bill of Rights requirements, I would be owed $2,400 in compensation. By offering me a flight that I rejected, apparently, under that same act, they are only required to pay me $400,” he defined.

“I don’t care so much personally about the compensation. What I care about, is it seems like Air Canada has found a loophole whereby offering a terrible flight that they know people will reject, they just saved themselves $2,000.”

Under the Air Passenger Bill of Rights, if a passenger is unable to board their flight and the airline is at fault, they’re entitled to compensation — $900 for delays as much as six hours, $1,800 for a six to nine-hour delay, and $2,400 for delays over 9 hours.

A July 10 electronic mail addressed to Carkner from Air Canada supplied no clear rationalization for the provide of a $400 refund.

“In accordance with the Canada Air Passenger Protection Regulation, the quantity of compensation for conditions like yours will probably be $400 CAD. This is the compensation mandated when a flight disruption was brought on by causes inside the management of the airline, and the purchasers selected to not proceed with the journey on their authentic itinerary.

“The alternate transport taken to your final destination does not qualify in the assessment of the amount of compensation under the regulation.”

Carkner says he informed Air Canada that he was rejecting the provide however they issued the refund anyway, sending an e-transfer which was auto-deposited to his checking account, and indicated he may ship copies of his incurred bills and the airline would contemplate masking them.

“As far as they’re concerned, I’ve accepted the money. If you accept a partial payment on something, it does have a legal ramification.”

At this level, Carkner says he’s simply throwing his palms up within the air and is able to transfer on.

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“I’m considering taking it to the ombudsman’s office [the Air Passenger Protection section of the Canadian Transportation Agency] but they say the expected wait time is a year-and-a-half right now before they will look at a case.”

Carkner reiterates it’s not about financial compensation at this level.

“My concern is, if they’ve found a loophole, a year-and-a-half from now, it’s another 18 months of people who are going to be facing the same sort of thing. I would rather they had honestly tried to book me on another flight, And the fact is, I was able to go online, on my phone, and within 15 minutes I had a flight booked the next day instead of 38 hours later,” he stated.

“There were people around me in the same boat who were booking flights that night — some who were offered rebooked flights two or three days out — because it seems there is no penalty to Air Canada for doing that.”

CityNews has reached out to Air Canada about Carkner’s case however the airline has but to reply.

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