Air Canada refunds delayed for weeks, passengers left paying credit card interest

Travellers are having a hard time getting compensation from Air Canada for their missed flights and disrupted travel plans. Adrian Ghobrial reports.

Air Canada customers across the country and around the world say they’re still waiting to be reimbursed after a summer strike that left thousands of passengers stranded.

“If feels like they want you to give up” says Cindy Burns.

Speaking to CTV News from her home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Burns says her summer trip with her sister and parents to Ontario ended in frustration when their Air Canada flight home was cancelled on Aug. 16th.

“We received a message from the airline saying they tried to rebook us on over 120 carriers, but they couldn’t find any flights for us,” she said.

However, Burns says, in just a few minutes she was able to go online and find a WestJet flight home. Her parents, who’re both senior citizens needed to get home as soon as possible, so Burns says she was left with little choice but to pay $5,400 dollars with her credit card.

According to the Canadian Transportation Agency’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, if an airline can’t rebook you following a cancellation, a customer may choose a reservation for the next available flight that is operated by “any carrier.”

Burns filed her claim to be reimbursed for the additional expense home with Air Canada on Aug. 18. She says she still hasn’t received her money and is now paying interest on her credit card as a result.

“I need to try and get this money back as soon as possible,” she says.

As of Sept. 22, Air Canada says it’s still working through more than 54,000 customer claims.

Last week, CTV News put out a call to viewers asking for an update on their compensation claims with the airline; we received a flood of emails.

Multiple passengers have emailed saying their cases have been marked resolved, even though they haven’t received their reimbursement.

Air Passenger Rights advocate, Gabor Lukacs, says passengers have been having difficulty submitting their claims to Air Canada both for reimbursement and for compensation under the European Union’s rules.

Speaking from her home in Bedford, England, Helen Offer says she’s been going back and forth with Air Canada since their holiday to Canada from the U.K. went sideways when their return flight home was cancelled. They’ve received some compensation, but not all of what she’s entitled to, according to Offer.

“Its part of your country’s reputation when they (Air Canada) behave like this,” says Offer, adding Air Canada is “refusing to pay for my husband’s lost wages.”

Lost wages are “owed under article 19 of the Montreal Convention for passengers travelling internationally,” says Lukacs.

In an email to CTV News, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) says an investigation is “currently underway with respect to the Air Canada summer labour disruptions,” according to a government agency spokesperson.

From Aug. 11 to 31, the CTA says it received 1365 complaints against Air Canada.

Air Canada tells CTV News that passenger claims are expected to take four to six weeks to process. The airline says that many passengers have already received their reimbursement and that the sudden halt of all flights in August has led to a significant backlog in complaints.