Air Canada has been ordered to pay a Yukon couple $10,000 after they took the airline to court following botched travel plans.
Tosh Southwick told Global News that the ordeal started nearly two years ago when she and her husband were set to take their dream vacation to Cuba in February 2023.
However, she said the ordeal started when they landed at Toronto’s Pearson Airport and found that Air Canada had overbooked their flights.
Southwick said they voluntarily gave up their seats on the promise they would be put on another flight and arrive a day late.
But instead of going south, they went east to Montreal, where a polar vortex was grounding flights. Southwick said they spent hours trying to get answers from Air Canada.
“My husband and I were in beach gear the whole time,” she said. “I had shorts on. He had flip-flops on. And then they said, ‘No, you have to go back to Edmonton then’. And that was it. I was devastated. That was the end of the vacation.”
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When the couple arrived back home in Whitehorse, Southwick said her out-of-pocket expense claims were denied.
That’s when they decided to take Air Canada to small claims court.
Air Canada argued it did its part by compensating the couple $2,400 each when they gave up their seats. However, the judge noted the couple’s challenges as they tried in vain to speak to an agent, writing, “Computers cannot be the only decision maker’, calling it ‘A horrendous experience as a result of the overbooking by Air Canada’.”
The judge ruled Air Canada had violated several air passenger protection regulations, awarding the couple $10,000.
“It was incredibly, incredibly validating,” Southwick said.
An air passenger rights advocate says this case isn’t a one-off, but it may help others in the future.
“Documenting on public record what these passengers had to endure at Air Canada’s hands, that is a very significant contribution because it allows passengers to say in a future, in a different case, ‘Me too’,” Air Passenger Rights’ advocate Gábor Lukács said.
Southwick hopes others know it is possible to hold big corporations accountable.
“We need to make sure that the airlines know that this isn’t okay,” she said.
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