A B.C. couple’s greater than four-year battle with Air Canada over compensation for a flight delay has lastly ended.
Final week, the airline dropped a court docket case it had launched in opposition to Andrew and Anna Dyczkowski, who stay simply outdoors Kelowna, B.C., and on Wednesday Air Canada paid them $1,000 every for a 24-hour flight delay from Vancouver to Costa Rica in January 2020.
“It is simply my guess that they chickened out, as a result of they knew that they could not really, probably win,” mentioned Andrew Dyczkowski.
The dispute started in February 2020 when the couple filed a grievance with the Canadian Transportation Company (CTA), after Air Canada denied their preliminary compensation declare.
The CTA ordered the airline to pay the couple $2,000 in compensation. As a substitute, in late 2023, Air Canada took the couple to court to attempt to overturn the ruling.
Greater than a 12 months later, and simply three days earlier than a scheduled court docket listening to, Air Canada deserted the case with out clarification, based on court docket paperwork.
Though he is pleased the case ended in his favour, Dyczkowski nonetheless questions how and why he and his spouse needed to endure the protracted struggle, which included a court docket dispute.
“Why all this mess?” he mentioned. “I do not suppose that is proper.”
However that is how the foundations work. After CTA officers problem rulings on air passenger complaints, passengers or airways wishing to contest them should take the case to Federal Courtroom. Solely the unique events within the dispute will be named within the court docket case, which implies the CTA cannot help passengers in court docket.
The Dyczkowski case is the fourth CTA ruling airlines have challenged in court docket in 2024, and the second filed by Air Canada. In the other case, which remains to be earlier than the courts, the airline is contesting a CTA order to pay a Toronto passenger $2,079 for delayed baggage.
Whereas it is uncommon for airways to attraction CTA choices, there is a rising name for the federal company to overtake the complaints course of. Advocates say this alteration is required so passengers do not run the danger of a authorized battle simply because they filed a grievance in opposition to an airline.
“Change the freaking regulation,” mentioned John Gradek, an aviation administration professor at McGill College.
“Get the passenger out of that complete equation.”
Air Canada says it felt unhealthy for couple
Beneath federal guidelines, airways pay as much as $1,000 compensation per passenger if a flight cancellation or delay was inside their management.
In keeping with CTA paperwork, Air Canada maintained that unhealthy climate — which was outdoors its management — was the primary cause for the Dyczkowskis’ flight delay. The CTA officer disagreed and ordered the airline to pay up.
In Federal Courtroom paperwork, Air Canada claims the officer “didn’t correctly consider the proof.”
Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick informed CBC Information in an electronic mail that the airline contested the CTA determination in court docket, as a result of it was “the one option to get readability” on how the company’s officers assess proof in grievance circumstances.
Air Canada goes to court docket to overturn a ruling that it should compensate a B.C. couple for a delayed flight. Some consultants say this might develop into a development and different carriers may flood the courts with extra circumstances.
Fitzpatrick mentioned the airline dropped the court docket battle as a result of, over time, it has gained some readability on the CTA course of, which has helped it decide which compensation claims are legitimate.
He mentioned that the airline additionally deserted the case as a result of it felt unhealthy for the Dyczkowskis.
“It’s unlucky that, beneath the legislation, prospects are inadvertently drawn into the method, which we acknowledge can create unease for them and which we wish to keep away from.”
However the couple’s lawyer, Peter Choe, who took on the case professional bono, has a distinct principle. He claims {that a} mechanical problem that was throughout the airline’s management was the primary cause for the couple’s flight delay, so the airline dropped the case to keep away from a public defeat.
“I imagine that as they ready for the oral listening to, Air Canada’s legal professionals turned their full consideration again to this case and concluded they’d lose,” Choe, founding father of Portmanteau Legislation in Toronto, wrote in an electronic mail.
“Why withdraw in the event that they have been going to win?”
Dyczkowski agrees, and says that at this level, he needs Air Canada hadn’t dropped the case.
“We might somewhat have it dealt [with] on the listening to,” he mentioned. “That might show who was proper and who was improper.”
CTA stands by system
A number of business and authorized consultants have questioned the CTA complaints process the place appeals wind up in court docket. However the CTA has regularly defended the system.
“This can be a key a part of how the Canadian justice system works,” mentioned CTA spokesperson Jadrino Huot in an electronic mail earlier this 12 months.
Gradek argues that if an airline desires to dispute a CTA determination, it ought to take the company to court docket, not the passenger.
“It’s a determination made by the CTA, and it ought to be the CTA versus the airline in entrance of a decide,” he mentioned.
However Jadrino mentioned the CTA cannot be named in circumstances that wind up in Federal Courtroom, as a result of the company wasn’t a part of the unique disputes.
“That is typical for judicial opinions [involving] authorities decision-making our bodies,” he mentioned.
As for Dyczkowski, he says if he ever winds up in court docket once more with an airline, he now is aware of the right way to navigate the system.
When requested if he had a message for Air Canada, he replied, “Do not mess with Dyczkowski.”
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