For two and a half years, Réjean Landry has been locked in a legal battle with Air Canada, demanding compensation after his family arrived at their final destination more than 24 hours late.

In November, an Ontario Small Claims Court judge ruled in favor of the Ottawa man, ordering Air Canada to pay nearly $15,000.

And we were happy, satisfied, relieved for a few weeks, said Landry. Until yesterday, when I received a notice of appeal from Air Canada.

Experts say big companies are increasingly willing to appeal decisions and fight passengers in court to avoid compensating them, despite the high legal costs they incur.

Air Canada declined to comment to CBC because Landry’s case is still before the courts.

Panicked and desperate

When Landry decided to take his children, Sébastien and Emali, on vacation to Lisbon in July 2022, he knew there could be complications.

Pandemic restrictions had eased and Canadians were filling airports across the country.

But when they arrived at the Montreal airport, they found that their flight had been delayed. again and again and again, said Landry.

Panicked and desperate, Landry said he bought three new tickets for the next day. When they arrived in Toronto for a layover and spoke to the woman at the Air Canada office, she told him he would be refunded.

They finally landed in Portugal, more than 24 hours later than expected.

Landry said the first indication that something was still wrong came when her children tried to return home.

They were told their seats were no longer available on the return flight because they had not taken the original flight they had purchased.

Air Canada put them on a United Airlines flight, and Sébastien and Emali arrived in Toronto more than six hours late.

While at home in Canada, Landry sent emails to Air Canada, asking them to compensate him for his tickets and not allow his children to board the plane scheduled to return home.

He said it went on for months before he decided, after Christmas 2022, to file a complaint in Ontario Small Claims Court.

The nearly $15,000 the court ordered Air Canada to pay included the price of Landry’s new tickets, nights spent in a hotel, food at the airport, fees for not allowing Sébastien and Emali boarding and other expenses.

“Air Canada should be ashamed”

Landry said he felt confident going to small claims court because of a Supreme Court ruling in October that rejected an appeal by airlines arguing that passenger protections violated international law. (new window).

I went into the trial thinking, this is it, I’m going to win. Obviously, the Supreme Court is on my side, he said.

But now he doesn’t know how he’ll handle the appeal – and he also doesn’t know that Air Canada is willing to spend tens of thousands of dollars on it.

Jacob Charbonneau is CEO of Late Flighta company that helps travelers defend their rights in court. He said companies are increasingly willing to spend money on testing, rather than paying passengers.

It’s a shame because they are often passengers left to their own devices, who have to fight a bit like David against Goliath, Charbonneau told Radio-Canada in French.

We are fighting against big companies who have armies of lawyers, who try every possible way to avoid having to pay compensation and who are often willing to pay higher legal fees than what it would cost to pay compensation.

Air passenger rights advocate Gábor Lukács highlighted the same phenomenon to CBC.

For Lukács, who spoke about air passengers’ rights before the Supreme Court, there is a simple reason why airlines don’t just want to pay.

Air Canada wishes to establish a precedent to show that in (certain) cases no such compensation could be granted, he said.

They’re hoping that they’ll just have poor, self-represented people on the other side who can’t present valid, solid legal arguments, and they can just roll them over. It’s shameful. This is a waste of judicial resources. Air Canada should be ashamed.

“Heroes in my eyes”

Lukács said it was important for passengers like Landry to defend themselves in court, despite the difficulties, because it contributes to the common good of society by changing airline behavior.

These passengers are truly heroes in my eyes, he said.

Back home in Barrhaven, Landry prepares to continue his legal process.

Somehow I have to find a way to fight this call, he said. I don’t know yet how I’m going to do it.

Gabrielle Huston (new window) · News from Radio-Canada