A BC man who had booked a trip to Asia through an Ontario-based vacation group saw his plans go wrong, so he decided to take legal action.
In a case that the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal ruled on this week, the BC resident claimed $5,000 in damages for “loss of opportunity.”
The vacation group is UTO Vacation, and in defence, it said it followed its policies and guidelines regarding the contract it had with the BC resident, so it claimed it wasn’t at fault.
The tribunal didn’t quite see it that way.
In July 2022, the BC resident booked a vacation package for himself and his wife through the UTO website. The package included flights from Seattle for a 10-day tour of Japan and China, which would have departed on November 6, 2023. The total price was US$1,598.
In August 2022 and January 2023, he called UTO about extending the return flight dates by seven days. According to the resident, UTO said he could do this for an additional fee anytime before 180 days before the departure date.
He said he called again on April 10, 2023, to select the return flight date but was informed by a UTO employee that they had cancelled his booking because he didn’t respond to an email from February 16, 2023.
This email was the main point of debate in the tribunal case as there was no evidence the email even existed, despite UTO claiming it sent it on February 16 and that the BC resident opened it on February 17 and 18. He claimed he didn’t receive it until April 10, 2023.
The only copy of an email in evidence was sent on April 10, 2023. It included information about China reopening to tourists following COVID and that customers had until February 26, 2023, to confirm their participation in booked tours by clicking on a poll. They also needed to upload their documents and payments, including liability waiver forms and passports, by the same date.
The email included one line that was also key to this case:
“If customers did not complete the linked poll and did not submit all required documents by February 26, 2023, their payments would be forfeited.”
UTO could not prove to the tribunal that it had sent that email until April 10, 2023, nor is there evidence that he opened it on February 17 and 18, as UTO claimed. The tribunal said that if UTO simply called the traveller, he could’ve provided the necessary documentation. The tribunal added it owed him that duty of care.
After the trip was cancelled, UTO offered the traveller a credit of US$1,598, which he partially used to pay for another trip. In total, he paid $5,397.99 for the new trip.
The tribunal agreed that $5,000 in damages was appropriate for his loss of opportunity. In total, including tribunal fees, UTO had to pay the BC resident $5,576.13 within 30 days of the tribunal decision.
You can read the full decision posted online here.