Like airlines virtually everywhere, Air Canada has current issues with cancellations, delays, and lost or late luggage, generally involving insufficient staffing at airports, airlines, security, customs and immigration. Those problems are causing the airline to be singled out by passengers and others as the epitome of the problem in Canada. That’s not entirely fair.
Certainly, Air Canada may have more delays/cancellations/whatever than other Canadian carriers but there are many factors out of their control and they are also by far the largest airline in the country, with the largest number of routes and passengers (to be delayed or cancelled). Still, they don’t seem to be doing themselves many favours when it comes to communicating with their passengers.
Passengers and advocates grumble that Air Canada is giving them the runaround on refunds, compensation and reasons cited for flight delays and cancellations.
They have a point. Here are a couple of examples that have been reported:
The country’s largest carrier informed passengers their flight to Lisbon would be delayed due to “bad weather” – 14 days before it was even slated to leave Montreal. Air Canada has subsequently said the weather explanation on the Lisbon flight was “an incorrect notification” that has since been revised.
Another traveller was recently told a baggage delay meant she would receive a $60 “eCoupon” rather than the direct refund she’s entitled to under both federal rules and Air Canada’s passenger-carrier contract.
On Tuesday the airline cancelled a flight from Nashville to Toronto citing a “technical issue,” but the same plane scheduled to fly into Nashville for the trip instead apparently took off for Boston an hour after the original departure time, despite the stated mechanical problem.
Liam Walshe, a paralegal who advocates for consumer protection, calls the reasons cited “questionable,” noting that mechanical malfunctions do not qualify as within the carrier’s control or oblige it to compensate customers.
“How would they say it’s for maintenance and then an hour later the aircraft flies to Boston instead? Why wouldn’t they just delay the Nashville flight slightly?”
Walshe said that taken together, the myriad instances of “technical” or “maintenance” issues along with travel vouchers rather than reimbursement create an appearance of trying to avoid “having to pay out.”
The airline has said it “fully appreciates the disappointment and inconvenience schedule changes cause customers,” who can request a refund in the original form of payment, and says it abides by its obligations under the passenger rights charter.
Perhaps it’s time to cut them some slack. These are global issues, unimaginable and unpredictable just a few years ago, including passport delays and passengers openly, willfully and aggressively flouting the rules.. There are bound to be bumps in the road (or air) as things gradually return to normal. We all want to travel again, let’s just pack some patience and common sense along with our carry-on.
With files from Canadian Press.