Image Credit: FACEBOOK:Air Canada
September 17, 2023 - 6:00 PM
Once again, a Canadian airline has been forced to reimburse a customer for a missed flight and lost baggage after initially denying his claim.
Air passenger transportation rights have been solidified since the Montreal Convention in 1999 and the airlines are well aware of their obligations, but denied a BC man who tried to get his money back.
Chik Lai instead had to take the airline to the Civil Resolution Tribunal, BC's small claims court.
He sued after his flight from Vancouver to Edinburgh, UK was delayed for five hours, and his baggage misplaced for 24 days.
He was denied by the airline, which said the delay was out of its control, one of the stipulations of the Convention. A company employee told the tribunal there was a nearly two hour delay of a previous flight with US customs, bumping other flights down the line. Lai missed a connecting flight in the chaos.
But the tribunal found Air Canada's excuse thin because while the delay wasn't the company's fault, it also didn't do anything to mitigate the problem for passengers. The tribunal said the airline was aware of the backup a full 10 hours before Lai's flight and had plenty of other staff in Toronto it could have called on to get the plane in the air on time.
“I find Air Canada has not established that it took all reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the earlier customs delay,” the court said.
READ MORE: B.C. couple find Air Canada's mistake won't net them $5K compensation
He got $400 compensation for his flight delay and $715 for lost luggage. If your luggage is lost for over 21 days you might be able to get some compensation from the airline.
Lai was also told in the decision the other members of his family are welcome to follow the same procedure for compensation.
Read the full case here.
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