Air Canada changes course after rejecting passenger claims for tech-related delays

Air Canada has changed course on its decision not to offer passengers compensation for delays caused by a technical issue in recent weeks.

After first saying the problem was outside its control and that it was not responsible, Air Canada is now calling that “erroneous” and says cash offers are en route.

On May 25, more than half of Air Canada’s flights were delayed, and on June 1, more than 500 flights were either delayed or cancelled due to a “technical issue.”

In messages to some customers, the airline initially said the information technology fumble was out of its hands. However, when contacted by The Canadian Press, a spokesperson said that response was an error.

Air passenger rights advocate questions claims IT issues were out of Air Canada’s control

Air passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács says the law is clear, and adds Air Canada is responsible for compensating passengers caught up in the chaos.

“It is the carrier’s own information system, perhaps it involves some of its suppliers or sub-contractors. It is something for which Air Canada is responsible, and if they have to pay compensation to passengers as a result, then Air Canada can go sue its sub-contractors,” he told CityNews Friday, prior to Air Canada’s decision reversal.

On June 1, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Air Canada has obligations to passengers impacted by the computer issue since it was within the airline’s control.

In April, the federal government laid out measures to toughen penalties and tighten loopholes around traveller compensation.

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Lukács, who is the president and founder of the Air Passenger Rights organization, did not accepting claims that the IT issues were outside of Air Canada’s control.

“It’s really ludicrous to claim that the airline’s own IT system is something outside a carrier’s control, and that’s just very, very difficult to believe — not only because … they’re responsible for their own systems, but also, because you are normally supposed to have secondary and tertiary back-ups and fall back systems. When you have a system which is essential for your operation, if it is for safety, you operate several backups,” he explained.

“It is Air Canada’s own system, they have to be able to run their operations like any other business, and they need to have redundancies and they need to pay for redundancies. We don’t tell Air Canada how to run its business, but when things go wrong they have to compensate passengers for it.”

Lukács feels the tech issues and the ensuing chaos “just underscores how broken Canada’s passenger protection regime is.”

He is calling on the government to further strengthen protections, adding Canada falls short of the standards in Europe.

“Passengers are still short-changed. The only solution to this would be Bill C-327, a private member’s bill that was put forward by the NDP and would align Canada’s passenger protection regime with the European Union’s gold standard,” he said.

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-With files from Mike Lloyd