Are we protecting the wrong people? - Denny Scott editorial

It’s been hard to open a national newspaper, tune in to Canada’s national broadcaster on radio or television or take a stroll through any national news site without seeing Air Canada (or its competitors) being accused of skirting the law to avoid paying compensation to customers it has wronged.

 

Whether it’s canceling flights and, instead of helping customers find some place to stay, giving out yoga mats and telling people to sleep on the floor, or trying to weasel out of paying compensation altogether by claiming “safety issues” with a plane after staff were heard telling numerous patients there wasn’t enough staff for the flight, Canada’s national air carrier is not looking good in the media these days. 

 

It’s understandable that the company doesn’t have the staff to operate these flights - staff shortages are a near-universal problem right now in most skilled industries and not having the pilots or flight attendants to operate a flight is just as understandable as the numerous Emergency Room closures that have faced Huron County and the surrounding areas over the past few weeks.

 

If there aren’t enough people to make a service work, it’s foolish to operate it, either from a safety standpoint or from the standpoint of providing decent customer service. 

 

The airline keeps calling foul on safety concerns, or other similar situations that allow them to cancel flights while simultaneously denying any kind of compensation to the customers they are letting down. However, that’s not the story that said customers are relaying to the media when would-be passengers find themselves put out. Just look at one such group of airline customers who found themselves sleeping on floors or in bathrooms on yoga mats.

 

CBC interviewed one passenger who had their flight delayed multiple times for a total of nine hours before it was finally just cancelled around midnight. Fatima Sherefa explained that, at that point, the customers, who were denied any kind of compensation to help them weather the episode (like a meal voucher, since they had been delayed through dinner, or help of any kind finding sleeping arrangements), were given mats to use as beds. Sherefa locked herself in a nursing room because she felt uncomfortable sleeping in the open. 

 

Air Canada said there was a safety issue that led to the delays and cancellation, however that flies in the face of what the customers, including Sherefa, claim to have been told: that there wasn’t enough staff to operate the flight.

 

Now, some people may say that not having enough staff is a safety issue, however safety issues that result in those kinds of delays and cancellations are, apparently, somewhat clearly outlined in the rules that govern the airline industry. The rules cover all manner of unexpected issues, but, apparently, according to the experts the CBC spoke to, staff shortages aren’t among them.

 

And, honestly, should they be? Airlines know well ahead of a flight if they are going to have the on-duty and standby staff necessary. It’s not like finding a bolt on the ground under the plane and not knowing where it came from. If an airline doesn't have enough active and backup staff scheduled, that’s an avoidable situation. Either more staff need to be found or the flight could be cancelled or delayed with the passengers knowing about it well ahead of time.

 

Sherefa’s story has been echoed a number of times, specifically by other passengers of Air Canada. I even have some friends who had to extend their east-coast vacation for a couple of days while Air Canada figured out alternative flight plans after cancelling their flights. While that may not seem like such a bad deal compared to sleeping on the floor of an airport terminal, that’s time away from work and time with more expenses that they had to figure out how to manage.

 

Unfortunately, according to the experts interviewed regarding the issue, those passengers have an uphill battle if they want to get any kind of compensation because the rules and bodies that govern such things are very much on the side of the airlines. As a matter of fact, the expert the CBC interviewed said people should prepare for a small claims court battle if they really want to find relief.

 

Like so many other “governing bodies” for Canadian industries, the experts say the bodies responsible for making sure passengers aren’t unfairly left in the lurch are more or less run by friends of the industry, if not the industry itself. It really makes you wonder if we’re not protecting the wrong people by allowing these arm’s-length organizations to represent the interests of the airlines and other insulated industries.