Last month, my flight was canceled leaving Prince Edward Island due to Crew Constraints. While I managed to get on a flight the next day, I wanted to discuss if I’m able to pursue claiming compensation from Air Canada.

The Flight

The trip was awesome and I highly recommend PEI to everyone. We were tested on arrival, but after that it’s almost as COVID doesn’t exist out there.

That said, as we were enjoying our pre-departure drink today at Dalvay-by-the-Sea, I noted that our incoming flight was delayed due to “crew constraints”, although I didn’t think anything of it. About 30 minutes later, as we were finishing our beer, our flight was canceled. Oh no!

Unfortunately, in this weird COVID era, the 16:50 to Montreal is the latest flight leaving the island, which means I wanted to take the direct early morning flight tomorrow morning at 5:45 am, yuck. We were booked on the next flight out to Montreal the next morning, but that wasn’t going to work, as it’s in the middle of the workday. Even with my 25k status, it took 40 minutes to receive a call back from Air Canada on this busy long weekend. Luckily, I got through and I was able to grab the last two seats on the morning flight the next day. While on the phone, I also confirmed with the agent that we were entitled to expenses that we incurred while stuck here for 12+ hours.

Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations

While looking through my options, I did my first digging into Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations. Now, like many government regulations, it’s not the most thrilling read, so I’ll get to the important bits. Here is a decent summary from the Canadian Transport Agency (that’s only 6500 words). Regardless, I wanted to know if flights cancelled due to “crew constraints” are eligible for compensation.

My Flights Delayed / Cancelled, Do the Air Passenger Protection Regulations Apply?

First, we have to understand the reasons why the flight was canceled or delayed. The law is classified in three ways, Disruptions within the airline's control, Disruptions within the airline's control but required for safety, or Disruptions outside the airline's control. The most important one is the first one on the list, as that’s the one that full compensation kicks in.

Now, the reason that we got for our flight cancellation was crew constraints. That seems like it’s within the definition of the airlines control, as the Government of Canada specifically says “staff issues” as one of the reasons. This is looking promising!

What do you get from Air Canada if your flight is canceled?

So, the Air Passenger Rights outline what you get from both small and large airlines, as you can imagine resources are different for both. According to the Government of Canada, an airline is a large airline if it transported at least two million passengers during each of the past two years. This includes all passengers carried throughout the airline's entire network. Otherwise, the airline is a small airline. That said, they outline four things the airline must do:

• Provide minimum standards of treatment;

• Offer alternate travel arrangements or a refund;

• Pay compensation for inconvenience; and

• Communicate key information.

Let’s dig into each one of them!

Air Passenger Rights - Provide minimum standards of treatment

The airline must set you up with reasonable food & drink, communication and a room if overnight. The website does outline that a reasonable amount of food and drink (not just a bottle of water and a granola bar for a 6-hour delay!), access to communication, like free wifi or access to a phone, and, in the case of an overnight delay, a hotel room including transportation. To be entirely honest, when I talked to the agent on the phone, she said they could sort this out at the airport. We never went to the airport that night because I was staying with my family who were thrilled I was staying another day.

Air Passenger Rights - Alternate travel arrangements and refunds

Pretty straightforward here, the airline needs to get you to your destination as soon as possible. Now, I actually thought that Air Canada did a good job here, I was booked within the hour on the same flight for the next day, but that didn’t work with my schedule. I was able to call through and get on the morning flight instead.

Air Passenger Rights - Compensation

Now, this is where it gets interesting. If an airline like Westjet or Air Canada cancels your flight within 14 days of departure, you could be eligible for compensation. The amount of compensation depends on how late the passenger arrives at the final destination, compared to the arrival time on their original itinerary. Compensation for flights with large airlines is as follows:

• $400 if the passenger arrives three hours or more hours late, but less than six hours;

• $700 if the passenger arrives six or more hours late, but less than nine hours; and

• $1,000 if the passenger arrives nine or more hours late.

Ok, this is getting interesting, my flights from Prince Edward Island to Toronto get me into Toronto about 12 hours after my original flight.

Air Passenger Rights - Communicating with Passengers

Airlines are required to “give passengers key information, including the reason for the delay or cancellation, available compensation, standards of treatment, and their rights and options for making a complaint – including to the CTA”. While they were great with information, because I wasn’t at the gate, I can’t comment about anything they said to passengers. That said, I did receive multiple updates on my flights while waiting at home, which was appreciated.

Applying for Air Passenger Rights Compensation

Based on the information that I found online, it looks like my claim may be accepted for my canceled flight and I may be entitled to $1000 for my troubles (and my partner entitled to her $1000). In the next installment, I’ll highlight how I applied for compensation with Air Canada for a flight canceled due to “crew constraints”.

Has anyone else had their flights canceled due to crew constraints? What happened?