Air Canada denying passenger compensation claims for staff shortages, citing safety
Less than four hours before departure, Ryan Farrell was surprised to learn his flight from Yellowknife to Calgary had been cancelled.
Air Canada cited "crew constraints" and rebooked him on a plane leaving 48 hours after the June 17 flight's original takeoff time.
Farrell was even more surprised six weeks later, when he learned his request for compensation had been denied on the basis of the staff shortage.
"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 email from customer relations dated July 29.
The rejection "feels like a slap in the face," Farrell said.
"If they don't have replacement crew to substitute in, then the flight (was) cancelled because they failed to assemble a crew, not because any other factor would have made it inherently unsafe to run the flight," he said in an email.
"I think the airlines are trying to exploit a general emotional connection that people make between `COVID-19' and `safety,' when in reality if you put their logic to the test it doesn't stand up."
Air Canada's response to Farrell's complaint was no outlier. In a Dec. 29 memo, the company instructed employees to classify flight cancellations caused by staff shortages as a "safety" problem, which would exclude travellers from compensation under federal regulations. That policy remains in place.
Canada's passenger rights charter, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), mandates airlines to pay up to $1,000 in compensation for cancellations or significant delays that stem from reasons within the carrier's control when the notification comes 14 days or less before departure. However, airlines do not have to pay if the change was required for safety purposes.
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), a quasi-judicial federal body, says treating staff shortages as a safety matter violates federal rules.
"If a crew shortage is due to the actions or inactions of the carrier, the disruption will be considered within the carrier's control for the purposes of the APPR. Therefore, a disruption caused by a crew shortage should not be considered 'required for safety purposes' when it is the carrier who caused the safety issue as a result of its own actions," the agency said in an email.
That stance reinforces a decision made July 8 -- three weeks before Farrell learned he'd been denied compensation -- when the CTA used nearly identical language in a dispute over a flight at a different air carrier. The regulatory panel's ruling in that case emphasized airlines' obligations around advance planning "to ensure that the carrier has enough staff available to operate the services it offers for sale."
In the December memo, which was issued at the height of the Omicron wave of COVID-19, Air Canada said: "Effective immediately, flight cancellations due to crew are considered as Within Carrier Control -- For Safety."
"Customers impacted by these flight cancellations will still be eligible for the standard of treatments such as hotel accommodations, meals etc. but will no longer be eligible for APPR claims/monetary compensation."
The staff directive said the stance would be "temporary." But Air Canada acknowledged in an email on July 25 that the policy "remains in place given the continued exceptional circumstances brought on by COVID variants."
Gabor Lukacs, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, said Air Canada is "unlawfully" exploiting the passenger rights charter to avoid paying compensation and called on the transport regulator for stronger enforcement.
"They are misclassifying things that are clearly not a safety issue," he said of Canada's largest airline, calling the policy "egregious."
Consumers can dispute an airline's denial of a claim via a complaint to the CTA. However, the agency's backlog topped 15,300 air travel complaints as of May.
Lukacs also noted that European Union regulations do not exclude safety reasons from situations requiring compensation in the event of cancellations or delays. Payouts are precluded only as a result of "extraordinary circumstances," such as weather or political instability.
"This document, along with the previous declarations and behaviour since the beginning of the pandemic, shows that Air Canada's priority is clearly to try to limit the costs of the flight cancellations instead of providing good service to its clients," Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with Quebec-based advocacy group Option consommateurs, said after reviewing a copy of the directive.
She said Air Canada aims to deter passengers from requesting compensation in the first place. "This tactic does not, in our opinion, demonstrate that the company cares about its customers."
Air Canada disagrees with that characterization.
"Air Canada had and continues to have more employees proportionate to its flying schedule when compared prior to the pandemic," the company said in an emailed statement, indicating it had done everything it could to prepare for operational hiccups.
"Air Canada follows all public health directives as part of its safety culture, and during the Omicron wave last winter that affected some crew availability, we revised our policy to better assist customers in their travels with enhanced levels of customer care for flight cancellations related to crew contending with COVID."
John Gradek, head of McGill University's aviation management program, said the transportation agency is partly responsible for the "debacle" because it established looser rules than those in Europe and the United States.
"Carriers have been making strong efforts to point fingers and claim delays are outside of their control to reduce liability," he said in an email.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 7, 2022.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.