According to Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, airlines must ensure customers affected by cancellations or significant delays arrive at their destination as soon as possible – within certain parameters.Air passengers could learn a useful lesson from an Edmonton resident who challenged a carrier’s rebooking of a cancelled flight after he discovered that a much earlier departure had room in business class.
According to Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, or APPR, airlines must ensure that customers affected by cancellations, denials of boarding or significant delays arrive at their destination as soon as possible – within certain parameters that depend on the reason for the flight disruption and size of the carrier. The rules also state that airlines can’t charge passengers extra if the alternate arrangements entail travelling on a higher-class ticket than the one originally purchased.
“Generally speaking, airlines must always ensure that passengers complete their itinerary as soon as possible,” CTA spokesperson Jadrino Huot said in an e-mail statement. One option, aside from upgrading the disrupted traveller, is for a carrier to offer them a same-class seat by giving the bump-up to a different passenger who is already booked on the flight. That’s what Mr. Penner suspects eventually happened in his case – and what Air Canada spokesperson Christophe Hennebelle confirmed as a possibility.