Air Canada and WestJet have both launched a legal battle to appeal separate Canadian Transportation Agency rulings where, in each case, the airline was ordered to compensate passengers for a cancelled flight caused by a staffing shortage.. The fight over compensation claims for cancelled and delayed flights has made its way into the Federal Court of Appeal.
John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, says if WestJet and Air Canada are successful in appealing recent Canadian Transportation Agency rulings, it could affect other compensation claims. The CTA's rulings on the WestJet and Air Canada cases, which were published this past summer, were supposed to help clear the air on compensation rules for flight disruptions caused by crew shortages.that staffing problems are considered within the airline's control and can't be classified as a safety issue, unless an airline can prove otherwise.
"Fundamentally, we believe that it was a safety decision to cancel this flight and we stand by that," said WestJet's Gibbons. "The original purpose of the APPR was to protect consumers from commercial decisions of airlines, not to punish airlines for safety decisions."