For the last two and a half years, Rejean Landry has been caught in a legal battle with Air Canada, seeking compensation after his family arrived at their final destination more than 24 hours late.
In November, a judge in Ontario’s small claims court ruled in the Ottawa man’s favour, ordering Air Canada to pay almost $15,000 dollars.
“And we were happy, satisfied, relieved for a few weeks,” Landry said. “Until yesterday, when I got a notice of appeal from Air Canada.”
Experts say that large companies are increasingly willing to appeal decisions and fight passengers in court to avoid compensating them, despite the hefty legal fees they incur.
Air Canada declined to comment to CBC because Landry’s case is still in court.
Panicked and desperate
When Landry decided to take his children, Sebastien and Emali, on a vacation to Lisbon in July 2022, he knew there could be some complications.
Pandemic restrictions had eased and Canadians were packing airports across the country.
But when they arrived at the airport in Montreal, they watched as their flight was delayed “over and over and over,” Landry said.
Panicked and desperate, Landry said he bought three new tickets for the next day. When they arrived in Toronto for a layover and spoke to the woman at Air Canada’s desk, she told him he would be refunded.
They eventually landed in Portugal, more than 24 hours later than they planned.
Several advocacy groups say airlines like Air Canada are increasingly willing to spend money on trials rather than paying out settlements to frustrated passengers. (Helen Pike/CBC)
Landry said the first indication something was still wrong came when his children tried to fly home.
They were told their seats were no longer available on the return flight because they hadn’t taken the original flight they had purchased.
Air Canada put them on a United Airlines flight, and Sebastien and Emali arrived in Toronto more than six hours late.
When he was home in Canada, Landry emailed back and forth with Air Canada, asking them to compensate him for his tickets and for not allowing his children to board their intended plane going home.
He said this went on for months before he decided, after Christmas in 2022, that he would file in Ontario’s small claims court.
The nearly $15,000 the court ordered Air Canada to pay included the prices of Landry’s new tickets, nights spent in a hotel, food at the airport, a fee for not allowing Sebastien and Emali to board and other expenses.
‘Air Canada should be ashamed of itself’
Landry said he felt confident going into small claims court because of a Supreme Court ruling in October which dismissed an appeal from airlines arguing that passenger protections violate international law.
“I went to trial thinking, that’s it, I’m going to win this. Obviously the Supreme Court is on my side,” he said.
But now, he’s not sure how he’ll handle the appeal — and the fact it looks like Air Canada is willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on it.
Jacob Charbonneau is CEO of Vol en Retard, a company which helps travelers defend their rights in court. He said corporations are increasingly willing to spend money on trials, rather than pay out to passengers.
“It’s unfortunate because these are often passengers who are left to their own devices, who have to fight a bit like David against Goliath,” Charbonneau told Radio-Canada in French.
“We are fighting against large corporations that have armies of lawyers, who try by all means to avoid having to pay compensation, and who are often prepared to pay more in legal fees than it would have cost to pay the compensation.”
Gábor Lukács, an air passenger rights advocate, pointed out the same phenomenon to CBC.
For Lukács, who has spoken about air passenger rights before the Supreme Court, there’s a simple reason that airlines don’t want to just pay up.
“Air Canada wants to establish a precedent to show that in [certain] cases no such compensation could be awarded,” he said.
“They’re hoping they are going to have only poor, self-represented people on the other side who cannot make good, strong legal arguments and they can just railroad them. This shameful. It is a waste of judicial resources. Air Canada should be ashamed of itself.”
Jacob Charbonneau, CEO and co-founder of Vol en Retard, says flyers should be prepared and know their rights. He also suggests recording any conversations with airline employees. (Radio-Canada)
‘Heroes in my eyes’
Lukács said it’s important for passengers like Landry to stand up for themselves in court, despite the hardship, because it “contributes to the greater societal good” by changing how airlines behave.
“These passengers are really heroes in my eyes,” he said.
Now back home in Barrhaven, Landry is preparing to keep pressing his legal case.
“Somehow I need to find some way to fight that appeal,” he said. “Not sure how I’m gonna do it just yet.”