Image Credit: FACEBOOK/Air Canada

A BC couple has won a small claims court dispute against Air Canada after the airline refused to cough up for their delayed flight saying COVID-19 made the delay out of its control.

According to a May 25 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, in August 2022 Inayat Singh and Suk Young Yoon were delayed seven and a half hours on a flight from Victoria to Toronto after Air Canada cancelled the flight.

The couple applied to Air Canada under the Air Passenger Protection Regulation saying the regulations stipulated they were owed $1,400 in flight delay compensation.

However, Air Canada refused to pay saying the delay was caused by "crew constraints" outside of its control. It then said the delay was caused by "safety constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic" that were outside its control.

Under the Air Passenger Protection Regulation airlines only have to pay compensation if the delay was under its control.

The couple then took Air Canada to the online small claims court.

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However, Air Canada attempted to put a halt on the proceedings.

The airline argued there was a pending class action suit against it for disruptions caused by crew constraints and the Tribunal should halt the case until after that was resolved.

The Tribunal rejected Air Canada's request.

The airline then said the case should be put on hold until after a decision by the Canadian Transportation Agency over "crew constraints."

Again the Tribunal rejected the request saying it made no "substantive" argument as to why the case should be put on hold. 

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The decision said after the delay Air Canada emailed the couple saying there was a "temporary exception period" where "crew constraints" were considered required for safety and the Air Passenger Protection Regulations didn't apply.

Air Canada argued that flight disruptions "must be placed within the context of the aviation ecosystem" that was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline reiterates that the couple's flight was cancelled "due to crew constraints that were outside Air Canada’s control."

However, the Tribunal didn't buy it.

"I find it insufficient for Air Canada to simply assert that it was outside its control or due to safety concerns, because of the COVID-19 pandemic," the Tribunal said. "I also am not prepared to accept the vague and unsupported assertion that I must consider the aviation ecosystem as a whole and find that the applicants’ particular flight delay was outside Air Canada’s control or done for safety reasons."

The Tribunal went on to say that the airline provided no evidence that the delay was out of its control.

"I find Air Canada is the only party here with the ability to prove the delay was outside its control or due to pandemic-related safety constraints. Again, it did not do so," the Tribunal ruled.

The Tribunal ruled airlines have control over their own staffing issues and the delay was within Air Canada’s control and was not for safety purposes.

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Ultimately, the Tribunal ordered Air Canada to pay the couple $1,400, which is what they would have received in the first place had Air Canada honoured their original claim.

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