A BC resident and WestJet passenger was supposed to fly from Puerto Vallarta to Winnipeg and Manitoba with a stopover in Calgary but missed the connecting flight due to a lengthy delay by the airline.
The passenger made a claim with the BC Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT), hoping for $10,192.72 in damages.
He outlined those damages, saying that he wanted $1,000 for the delayed flight, $192.72 for expenses he incurred because of the delay, $4,000 in damages for a delay in unloading his dog, Moe, in Calgary, and $5,000 in aggravated damages for how WestJet handled his claims.
His delay expenses were $25 for an evening meal, $15.21 for dog food, and $152.51 for a hotel.
One of WestJet’s defences was that the passenger’s claims totalled more than $5,000, which is the limit for civil claims at the CRT. WestJet claimed the case should’ve been outside the CRT’s jurisdiction for that reason. However, the CRT said that despite his claims for damages of over $10,000, in his submission forms, he only claimed $5,000.
The BC passenger’s flight was set to leave Puerto Vallarta at 3:25 pm on December 17, 2022, and land in Calgary at 7:27 pm.
His connecting flight from Calgary to Winnipeg was supposed to leave at 9:05 pm the same day, scheduled to land after midnight Manitoba time. Instead, his flight landed in Calgary at 8:59 pm, over an hour late, and boarding was cut off by then.
“I find it obvious that no one could make a six-minute connection,” the tribunal said.
The passenger claimed that if WestJet unloaded his dog quicker, he could’ve made the flight. He alleged that WestJet forgot to unload his dog from the cargo hold for over two hours. WestJet denied that claim, and the tribunal agreed with WestJet that if there had been a delay, it couldn’t have been over two hours.
Still, the passenger insisted that they might have forgotten him on the tarmac even if Moe was unloaded.
The tribunal ruled in favour of WestJet on this point due to a lack of evidence corroborating how long it was before Moe and the passenger were reunited.
Ultimately, the tribunal awarded the BC passenger $192.72 for dog food, a meal for himself, and a hotel following the airline delay. He was also awarded $1,000 for the flight delay, for a total of $1,395.28, including tribunal fees.
You can read the full case posted online here.