A Vancouver pair who had purchased tickets to fly from Vancouver to Calgary had their flights cancelled, so they took up their issue with Flair Airlines in a legal fight.
Olivia Donner and James Broadhurst claimed $1,000 in compensation for the cancelled flight and the time they spent dealing with the dispute at hand.
Flair told the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal that the flight was cancelled due to “bird strikes,” but evidence told the tribunal otherwise.
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Both applicants were booked on a flight from Vancouver to Calgary last August. Their flight was scheduled to leave at 3:10 pm, but they were informed at 9:41 am that the flight was cancelled due to a bird strike outside the airline’s control. That was on August 29.
Flair Airlines rebooked the passengers for the next available flight, August 30, just after 5 am. They ended up landing 14 hours after they were initially scheduled to.
In the publicly posted decision, Flair Airlines argued that the cancellation was out of the airline’s control because of the bird strikes.
On September 14, Donner emailed Flair to request compensation under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR). Flair responded that the flight was cancelled due to weather outside the airline’s control, which was different from what it told the tribunal.
“Flair claims its flight crew took the required steps to notify the tower that a strike may have occurred. Flair says an aircraft maintenance expert identified that multiple bird strikes caused damage and documented it through an internal SMS system,” the tribunal said.
The applicants did some research, providing the tribunal with the results of a search they conducted through the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System, which didn’t show any evidence of bird strikes.
Flair told the tribunal it didn’t know why the bird strike wasn’t reported.
“As noted, Flair did not provide any evidence. So, there is no evidence before me, other than Flair’s bare assertion, showing that a bird strike cancelled the flight. Flair also does not explain why it emailed the applicants on September 14, 2023, saying the delay was caused by weather,” the tribunal decision added.
Ultimately, Flair was ordered to pay the Vancouver pair $500 within 15 days of the tribunal decision. The passengers’ claims for compensation for the time spent on this dispute were dismissed.
In a statement to Daily Hive, a Flair Airlines spokesperson provided documentation of the bird strikes reported internally, dated August 29 and August 30.
The documentation stated that there were multiple bird strikes around the nose area of the aircraft on approach.
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