Compensation questions loom for Air Canada customers with cancelled flights

Consumer rights advocates are demanding compensation from Air Canada for the hundreds of thousands of passengers whose summer flights it cancelled.

The country's largest carrier said Wednesday night it will cut more than 15 per cent of its flights in July and August as the country's flight network sags under an overwhelming travel resurgence.

The move will see more than 9,500 flights, or 154 per day on average, dropped from the airline's schedule — already operating at just 80 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. The flights link mainly to the airline's Toronto and Montreal hubs, and run along domestic or Canada-U.S. routes. No international flights other than those to the United States were among the cull.

“This Canada Day weekend will be difficult,” chief executive officer (CEO) Michael Rousseau told employees in a memo dated Thursday and obtained by The Canadian Press.

“I wish I could promise you that the measures we are taking will mean an easy summer ahead. While they will certainly provide some relief, it will take time and effort and we likely won't see the full benefit until the latter part of July.”

Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with Quebec-based advocacy group Option consommateurs, says customers are “absolutely” owed compensation under Canada's passenger rights charter.

The Air Passenger Protection Regulations, which took force in 2019, require compensation — distinct from refunds — of between $400 and $1,000 for a cancellation or delay that is “within the carrier’s control.”

“I believe it is the decision of Air Canada to cancel the fights,” De Bellefeuille said. “Therefore people should have a right of compensation.”

While Rousseau apologized for flight cancellations and “customer service shortfalls,” the CEO also said in an email to travellers the schedule reduction stemmed from strains on the “global aviation system” — potentially outside Air Canada's control — calling them “unprecedented and unforeseen.”

Gabor Lukacs, president of the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, told The Sam Laprade Show on July 4 that airlines have “oversold their capacity” in a bid to compensate for two years of battered bottom lines.

“Even if there were physical seats available on the aircraft, there wasn't a pilot, there wasn't a flight attendant, there weren't gate agents,” he said, adding that a dearth of federal security and customs officers posed further challenges.These are cancellations that are within the carrier's control … Airlines may claim otherwise, but those claims hold no water.”

Air Canada did not respond immediately to questions around whether customers would be offered refunds or compensation.

“This was not an easy decision, as it will result in additional flight cancellations that will have a negative impact on some customers,” Rousseau said in the email to customers Wednesday evening.

“But doing this in advance allows affected customers to take time to make other arrangements in an orderly manner, rather than have their travel disrupted shortly before or during their journey, with few alternatives available,” the CEO said.

The Montreal-based company's stock fell 7.5 per cent or $1.28 to $15.79 in midday trading Thursday, deepening a decline from more than $21 per share at the start of the month.

Listen to the full interview with Gabor Lukacs below:

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2022.

With files from CityNews Ottawa.