Canadians least likely to fight for bad flight payback
Most travellers unaware they may be entitled to compensation for troubles
Delays, cancellations and overbooked flights have messed up many hard-earned vacations, crucial business trips and important events, such as weddings, funerals and family reunions, yet most inconvenienced travellers don’t file for compensation.
And Canadians who do — less than 2 per cent — aren’t likely to get reimbursed to the degree Americans and Europeans are under their governments’ passenger rights regulations.
Compensation apathy in our country saves airlines millions of dollars.
The Canadian government will have a passenger bill of rights in place by 2018, but we have yet to see the level of compensation we can expect from air carriers when our plans are tripped up due to avoidable flight foul-ups, as was the case when hundreds of Air Transat passengers were forced to spend several hours under unbearable conditions on the tarmac in Ottawa on July 31.
Public outrage over airline overbooking practices peaked globally when a video of passenger Dr. David Dao, of Kentucky, being dragged off a United Airlines flight in Chicago went viral in April.
Before that happened most people weren’t aware of just how prevalent airplane overbooking is.
In a news conference a month later, Transportation Minister Marc Garneau said one of the amendments to Canada’s Transportation Act will protect passengers from being forced off a flight.
“Such incidents will not be tolerated in Canada,” Garneau vowed.
“When Canadians buy an airline ticket, they expect the airline to keep its part of the deal.
“When the terms of the agreement are not fulfilled, travellers should be entitled to clear, transparent, fair and timely and enforceable compensation,” he added.
The new rules will apply to international flights to and from Canada and all domestic flights.
Following Garneau’s announcement Flight Claim, a Canadian legal service that goes after airlines for compensation on behalf of air passengers, urged the government to match compensation figures Americans and Europeans are guaranteed — up to $1,800 for overbooked flights and $900 for delays and cancellations.
“The European Union and United States have clearly stated regulations that hold airlines financially accountable for traveller inconveniences,” Jacob Charbonneau, general manager of Flight Claim, says. “Canadians deserve similar protection from federal regulators.
“To have to defend your rights against multinational corporations with virtually unlimited budgets is not easy,” Charbonneau points out in his firm’s website mission statement.
“Airlines generally refuse to pay compensation by invoking an extraordinary circumstance. Most passengers are unaware of their rights and do not have enough information or time to file a claim.”
About 187,000 passengers who experienced flight disruptions in 634 delayed flights and 115 cancellations were eligible for compensation under European law in 2016, but only 2 per cent filed claims, saving airlines more than $155 million.
Charbonneau believes even fewer Canadian travellers bother to go after airlines.
In less than a year, Flight Claim assisted more than 2,000 passengers in claims adding up to about $500,000 compensation from airlines.
Both Toronto’s Pearson airport and Montreal’s Pierre Elliot Trudeau airport won’t allow Flight Claim to purchase advertising space in their terminals.
And even though our neighbours to the south and travellers living across the pond currently have better federally regulated compensation rates than us, companies such as Air Help (US and abroad) and refund.me (Germany) still do a booming business.
Like Flight Claim, they charge 25 per cent of the compensation awarded and no fee if a financial settlement isn’t reached. So what’s to lose?
Passenger rights information can be found on the Government of Canada website.
And passengers who feel they’ve been unfairly treated in requesting compensation from a Canadian airline can lodge a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) by filing an online-Air Travel Complaints Form that covers all flights and carriers to, from or within Canada.
The CTA also handles more complex cases, in which a passenger feels the airline’s contract is unclear, unjust, unreasonable or discriminatory.
Airlines aren’t liable for flight disruptions due to weather, natural disasters, political turmoil or other conditions beyond their control, but are at fault for delays or cancellations due to scheduling changes and errors. hstancu@thestar.ca.