An air passenger rights expert is weighing in on what Canadians should expect and demand from airlines after two recent situations where hundreds of people were left stranded for days in foreign countries.
A Calgary-bound WestJet flight was one recent case where hundreds of passengers were left stuck in a Mexico resort town for several days.
In a separate incident, a Canadian passenger from Ontario tells CityNews her family’s flight home from Montego Bay, Jamaica was cancelled three times in as many days starting last Thursday.
Tina Firenze, who is travelling with her spouse and three kids, says she is livid with WestJet after the repeated cancellations due to airplane maintenance. She says they were told the first flight was cancelled due to “engine issues.”
She says her family and hundreds of others were bounced back and forth between the airport and a problematic hotel.
“It was dirty, there was mould on the walls, there was no running water,” she says.
Firenze says she gave up on WestJet and is instead flying home with another airline.
“Everybody needs to hear about this, it’s a complete nightmare,” says Firenze.
What rights do passengers have when they are stranded?
Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, is calling on the Canadians involved in these cases to “stand their ground” and not get pushed over by airlines.
Lukacs says according to regulations, airlines need to rebook passengers on another flight within nine hours of the original departure time if they are delayed due to maintenance.
If the next fastest way home is on a competitor airline’s flight, then the original is required to pay for that flight.
“The passenger’s who got fed up with this treatment and bought themselves a ticket on a different airline, did the right thing,” says Lukacs. “WestJet was in breach of its obligations here.”
He says passengers in this case should be able to recoup the expenses they incurred of booking a new flight, but advises they take their case to small claims court and not deal with the The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).
“I would not bother with the federal regulator,” he says. “The reason WestJet dares to treat passengers this way is because the federal government is not enforcing passenger rights.”
WestJet has yet to comment on the Montego Bay incident, but says the Cancun passengers have mostly arrived in Calgary with the remainder to be return home by the end of the day.
“We understand how frustrating it is when travel does not go to plan, and we are sincerely sorry for the inconvenience this has caused,” reads the statement.