Flair Airlines said on Monday it had refunded almost all of the 1,900 passengers whose flights were canceled after four of its planes were seized earlier this month, but some customers say they have received only part of the money that is due to them.
Bailiffs repossessed, on March 11 in the early morning, four Boeing 737s for which the low-cost airline was late in payment, at airports in Toronto, Edmonton and Waterloo, Ontario.
The seizures led to the cancellation of several flights that day, forcing customers to rush to rebook with other airlines.
Kelly Butt and her family were scheduled to catch a Flair flight from Toronto to Palm Springs, Calif., on Saturday afternoon. The travelers, however, arrived at their destination about 30 hours later than expected due to the cancellation.
Mme Butt, her husband, mother and two teenage children took separate flights to Calgary late Saturday night – Mme Butt landed at 12:30 p.m., two hours after the others. They then had to take a midday flight to San Diego and drive a rental car for two and a half hours to get there on Sunday, she said.
After numerous emails to Flair, Mme Butt secured a commitment from the airline to reimburse him for the fares, but not the cost of a lost Airbnb reservation and car rental. She will also not be fully compensated for the last minute cancellation.
Flair told her in an email that she was “not eligible for any expenses associated with this flight change, including meals, hotel, or transportation to another city.”
The Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty applicable to international flights, says airlines are generally liable for damages caused by delayed passengers, with rare exceptions, according to the president of the air passenger advocacy group Travelers Rights, Gabor Lukacs.
After The Canadian Press emailed questions about the refund Monday morning, Flair replied Monday night that hundreds more refunds had been paid that day, and only eight remained to be processed.
“We don’t want a customer to feel frustrated and so our teams have been working hard to secure the refunds,” the airline said in a statement.
“In most cases, this required manual tabulation by our customer service team. Any outstanding amounts due to customers should be paid within the next 48 hours. »
Not sufficiently compensated?
No money appeared in M’s account.me Butt so far, she claimed Tuesday, despite the company’s commitment on March 11 to refund all airline tickets within a week.
“Seven days have passed. We haven’t seen a penny,” she said in an interview.
Some customers say Flair has not compensated them enough and dispute the airline’s communication throughout the difficulties.
In an initial notification to passengers alerting them to the canceled flights, Flair referred to them as “unscheduled maintenance delays”. This explanation is part of a regulatory loophole that exempts airlines from the obligation of compensation – separate from reimbursement – if a delay or cancellation is motivated by a security problem.
Flair said in a statement that the email was “miscommunication” and told customers she owed them $125 in compensation for their canceled flights.
“Most of the compensation has been paid out,” Flair said.
However, M.me Butt thinks she and her fellow travelers deserve more.
The Air Passenger Protection Regulations state that small carriers must compensate passengers $125 for delays of three to six hours, $250 for delays of six to nine hours, and $500 for cancellations and delays. nine hours or more.
“Because we arrived long after nine o’clock at our destination […] it’s $500, said M.me Butt. But now they’re telling us no, no, you’re only entitled to $125. »
“To date, no one from Flair has called us. They’ve sent us a bunch of emails, but it’s going around in circles because it seems no one is actually reading the information we’ve given them. »
Other Flair customers voiced similar concerns on a Facebook group, though some also reiterated the airline’s refund plans for booked flights.
The passenger bill of rights states that travelers who receive a refund are entitled to less compensation. But Mr Lukacs, from Travelers Rights, says this only applies when the customer rebooks with the same airline or refuses to rebook. If they opt to travel with another carrier, the rule has no bearing, he explained.
“Airlines like to play this game of insisting on reimbursing passengers rather than providing them with an alternative means of transport,” he said.
Mr. Lukacs also pointed out that the compensation problems in Canadian aviation were not unique to Flair.
“It’s a larger systemic problem. »