Air Canada ordered to pay passengers $2,000 for cancelled flight

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Air Canada has been ordered by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) to compensate two passengers for a flight cancellation caused by crew shortages.

In a ruling published on August 25, the CTA sided with passenger Lisa Crawford and her son, who experienced a close to 16-hour delay during their trip on August 21, 2021, from Fort St. John, BC, to Halifax.

The CTA ruled that Crawford and her son are entitled to compensation of $1,000 each for the inconvenience they experienced.

#BeInTheKnow When an airline delays or cancels your flight, check your airline’s website for any new notifications, take note of what the airline says caused the delay or cancellation & if you purchase goods or services, keep all your receipts. Learn more >https://t.co/ttyFzMHxfl pic.twitter.com/A65z0Oy7hy

— CTA.gc.ca (@CTA_gc) September 14, 2022

According to the agency, Crawford had first requested compensation under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) — which states that travellers are entitled to $1,000 compensation for delays of nine hours or more that are within the airline’s control — but Air Canada denied it.

“On the basis that the flight was cancelled due to crew constraints resulting from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which it considers a safety-related issue,” reads the decision.

That’s when Crawford sent an application to the CTA, which is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal.

Air Canada failed to provide sufficient evidence

The decision reads that the reason Air Canada denied Crawford’s request to the APPR was that the cancellation was “within its control but required for safety.” Carriers do not need to compensate passengers if the cancellation or delay is due to safety concerns.

However, the airline changed its reasoning in response to the CTA.

“[Air Canada] takes the position that the cancellation was outside its control,” reads the ruling.

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The airline told the CTA that the flight was cancelled because the first officer wasn’t able to complete the refresher training required by the Canadian Aviation Regulations before the flight.

It also cited the impacts of COVID-19, public health measures, and staffing issues as reasons for the incomplete training.

The CTA found that the cancelled flight was, in fact, within the airline’s control.

Its ruling stated that Air Canada failed to provide sufficient evidence “establishing that the crew shortage was unavoidable despite proper planning,” and failed to demonstrate that “the cancellation was not the result of [the airline’s] actions or inactions.”

The fight for compensation

Airlines have been in an ongoing fight with the CTA over whether they need to compensate passengers for flight delays and cancellations due to crew shortages.

In July, the CTA issued a ruling in response to a similar situation where WestJet was ordered to compensate a passenger for a delayed flight caused by crew shortages.

It clarified that staffing shortages are not a safety issue and are within an airline’s control, therefore passengers are entitled to compensation.

Still, airlines seem to be using this as an apparent “policy loophole” to deny compensation.

A report by The Canadian Press from early August found that Air Canada told its employees to classify flight cancellations caused by staff shortages as a “safety” problem.

Gabor Lukács, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, told Daily Hive in July that while it’s not the airline’s fault they’re understaffed or are having trouble hiring people, “it is entirely the airline’s fault that in spite of that situation, they still sold tickets.”

“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 said.

It doesn’t look like the chaos at airports is slowing down any time soon, so make sure you know your air passenger rights before you board a plane.