Is Air Canada using a "policy loophole" to deny flight cancellation compensation?

Air Canada is reportedly refusing to compensate passengers for flight cancellations due to staff shortages by using an apparent policy loophole.

Canadians have faced plenty of roadblocks during their travels this summer — cancellations, delayed flights, lost luggage — and this is just the cherry on top for those who are looking to be compensated for their troubles.

According to The Canadian Press, passenger Ryan Farrell’s Air Canada flight from Yellowknife to Calgary was cancelled due to “crew constraints.”

When Farrell requested compensation, it was denied, attributing staff shortages.

“Since your Air Canada flight was delayed/cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations, the compensation you are requesting does not apply because the delay/cancellation was caused by a safety-related issue,” reads the customer relations email obtained by The Canadian Press.

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Turns out, the airline’s response to Farrell isn’t new. In a December 2021 memo, obtained by The Canadian Press, Air Canada told its employees to classify flight cancellations caused by staff shortages as a “safety” problem.

This company-wide policy, which is still in place according to The Canadian Press, excludes travellers from being able to receive compensation under federal regulations.

Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), travellers are entitled to up to $1,000 of compensation for cancelled or delayed flights that are within the airline’s control if you’re notified 14 days or less before departure.

Carriers do not need to compensate passengers if the cancellation or delay is due to safety concerns.

While Air Canada is equating staffing shortages to safety issues, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) told Daily Hive Urbanized that this is incorrect.

“Crew shortages are within the airline’s control, unless the airline could not have prevented the flight disruption despite proper planning,” a CTA spokesperson said in an email.

“The threshold for establishing that a crew shortage is not within the airline’s control is high, given that airlines generally have control over staffing issues, such as hiring, training and dispatching.”

#BeInTheKnow When an airline delays or cancels a flight, passenger compensation depends on the level of control that the airline has over the reason for the delay or cancellation. Learn more > https://t.co/ttyFzMGZpN #TravelTips pic.twitter.com/OtHUiSKhOw

— CTA.gc.ca (@CTA_gc) August 1, 2022

The CTA added that the airline must provide evidence showing that the staff shortage wasn’t the result of its own actions, and if it fails to do so, the flight disruptions are considered within the airline’s control under the APPR.

Submitting a request for compensation is a bit of a process, and so is filing a complaint with the CTA if your request is denied, so it’s important to know your air passenger rights before travelling.

Gabor Lukács, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, told Daily Hive in July that airlines are going to use staffing shortages as an excuse.

“It’s indeed not the airline’s fault that they’re understaffed, nor is it their fault that they had trouble hiring people, but it is entirely the airline’s fault that in spite of that situation, they still sold tickets,” explained Lukács.

“Nobody held a gun to any airline CEO’s head and said, ‘You have to sell this many tickets,’ knowing full well that a capacity to operate those flights is not there,” he added.

In an email statement to Daily Hive Urbanized, Air Canada rejected “the suggestion it is applying a blanket approach to reasons for cancellations.”

It also stressed that the December 2021 memo is not a policy, but just a coding tool “used as guidance for categorizing each disruption.”

“Each flight cancellation is assessed on its own merit,” said a company spokesperson.

“We also rely on these codes to provide customers clarity on the reasons for the cancellations and their entitlements. In December 2021, when the Omicron wave hit, we used the crew cancellation code to explain to customers, when needed, that their flight was cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operations.”

Although, the airline also added that it has more employees proportionate to its flying schedule compared to before the pandemic.

“In the current quarter we are at 90% of our pre-COVID staffing level and plan to operate 79% of our pre-pandemic third quarter capacity,” stated Air Canada.