Image Credit: SUBMITTED / Flair Airlines

A BC couple has won a legal fight against Flair Airlines after the company failed to provide a shred of evidence to support its claim their flight was delayed because of a bird strike.

According to an Aug. 7 BC Civil Resolution Tribunal decision, Flair Airlines notified Olivia Donner and James Broadhurst in the morning that their afternoon flight from Vancouver to Calgary had been cancelled due to a bird strike. The airline then rescheduled them for 5:25 a.m. the following day.

The couple took the early morning flight arriving in Calgary 14 hours late.

However, when they applied for compensation under Canada's Air Passenger Protection Regulations, Flair changed its tune and blamed the weather.

As the weather was out of the airline's control it said it was not legally obliged to pay compensation.

READ MORE: WestJet offer $400 for delay, but Kelowna man sues and wins

The couple then headed to the online small claims court.

Donner and Broadhurst can now add their names to an array of people who have been reduced to seeking compensation from airlines through the small claim court, often winning their cases.

Once in court, the airline switched back to saying it was a bird strike.

Flair argued that the plane experienced several bird strikes when landing in Vancouver. The airline said it notified the tower of the bird strikes and an aircraft maintenance expert identified them.

However, the couple obtained results from the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System which didn't show any reported bird strikes during that time.

Flair said it's a mystery why the strikes weren't registered on the reporting system.

However, the Tribunal didn't buy it.

"Flair did not provide any evidence. So, there is no evidence before me, other than Flair’s bare assertion, showing that a bird strike cancelled the flight," the Tribunal said.

The Tribunal also asked why, after saying the delay was caused by a bird strike, did the airline change its story and say it was the weather.

Flair repeated its claim there was a bird strike and said it has internal documents showing this.

However, the airline failed to submit any evidence to support this or give any explanation.

READ MORE: Flair Airlines blames 'glitch' but BC man sues and wins

The Tribunal said that it assumed Flair did not provide the relevant evidence because it would have damaged its case.

The Tribunal then ordered Flair to pay Donner and Broadhurst $500 each, the compensation due under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. The couple had argued for another $500 each to cover the time spent dealing with the case, but the Tribunal rejected the argument saying it only ordered costs in extraordinary circumstances, which these were not.

The airline will also have to pay the $125 cost the couple paid to take it to the small claims court.

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