Air Canada strike raises travel insurance concerns

Travellers continue to deal with the financial costs incurred during the flight attendant strike, some calling for more protection for customers in the future.

Anytime a portion of your vacation is non-refundable it’s wise to purchase insurance, according to industry specialists.

“This new world we live in now has so many factors – weather, government advisories, labour disruptions – they all add up, which we never used to see or incur,” says Travel Secure Inc. president Martin Firestone.

Firestone says the recent Air Canada labour stoppage highlights the importance of cancellation insurance, which could be applied if you’re unable to board your flight, or interruption insurance, meaning you’re on your trip and need to get back.

In the case of the Air Canada strike, “cancellation insurance would cover costs you would have incurred for non-refundable portions of your trip, like a cruise or an Airbnb. Interruption insurance would cover the extra nights at a hotel and the one-way airfare back home,” Firestone said.

It’s a lesson thousands of Canadians whose vacations and flights were turned upside down are now learning.

Speaking from a hotel room in Lisbon, Portugal, Kyla Kumar said her family got more than they bargained for on their European vacation.

The Toronto family of four arrived in Europe on Aug. 3, but their return flight this past Sunday was cancelled. Air Canada has repeatedly told the family it is unable to book them a return flight home on a different airline, they said.

“Rightly or wrongly, I didn’t have travel insurance on those tickets,” Kumar said, adding that all Air Canada would offer her was a refund or a credit for a future flight.

Desperate to get home, Kumar did her due diligence and found a flight home Wednesday on Delta, and presented that as an option to Air Canada to book for her family, which the airline is supposed to agree to in accordance with Transportation Canada regulations. Air Canada refused to purchase the tickets for the Kumar family, they said.

“How has it gotten to the point where we just completely have no accountability for passenger rights in Canada?” questioned Kumar.

The Kumars purchased three of their four tickets using their personal credit card, so they called their provider to see what type of insurance they might be entitled to. That’s when the family learned the coverage on their card didn’t include this specific labour stoppage.

“It had to do with the classification of how this sort of labour dispute came about,” Kumar said.

“It does change from card to card but at best, (each credit card) does have a maximum attached to it. So it might be $2,500 for trip cancellation and $1,500 for trip interruption. Needless to say, that’s not going to be enough,” Firestone said.

The Kumars said they felt they had all their boxes checked, and that it’s Air Canada who was not acting in good faith. They admit, however, that if they were to book a cruise or prepay for a pricey all-inclusive trip that was non-refundable, they’d definitely consider travel insurance.

Depending on where you’re travelling in the world, local laws may offer you a level of protection as well.

If you’re a Canadian stranded in Europe by Air Canada, European passenger protection regulations mean that Air Canada has to pony up for the price of a new ticket, and cover any additional food and hotel expenses.