Family forced to compensate additional $4,000 for new tickets after Air Canada bars them from flight

A Toronto family wants answers after Air Canada barred them from their flight, forcing them to spend an additional $4,000 on new tickets to take a same moody a following day.

When CBC News asked Air Canada for an explanation, orator Peter Fitzpatrick replied in an email, “I can't get into specific issues.”

“They’re not peaceful to acknowledge that they’re in a wrong,” says Shanty Thivakaran.

Her family’s distress began on Jun 27 when Thivakaran, her father Thiva Maheswaran, their dual immature boys and Maheswaran’s mom arrived during Toronto’s Pearson airport. They contend they showed adult about 2.5 hours before their Air Canada moody to London.

From London, they were requisitioned to fly on Air India to Sri Lanka for a family vacation. It would be Maheswaran’s initial return to his homeland in 17 years.

Thiva Maheswaran, Shanty Thivakaran and their boys, Athiran, dual years old, and Akshan, five, in Sri Lanka. (Shanty Thivakaran)

But their transport skeleton started to uncover when an Air Canada representative destined a family to a wrong check-in line.

About one hour and 40 mins before takeoff, they were redirected to a scold line, where they watched 3 passengers in front of them check in for a London flight.

An representative started checking in a family of five, though stopped when a manager declared, “A family of 5 is a no-go,” says Thivakaran.

“We were so upset,” says Maheswaran. “My mom’s crying, a boys started crying. we was roughly crying. It was an romantic scene.”

The family insincere a craft was overbooked and they had been bumped. But Air Canada told CBC News there were indeed 8 dull seats when a craft took off. It didn’t say since a family wasn’t offering any of them.

‘I never felt so helpless’

Instead, a family was destined to a ticketing line where they approaching an Air Canada representative would rebook their flight. But after they waited for an hour, a table sealed during 11 p.m., withdrawal them stranded.

Air Canada afterwards destined a family to another check-in agent, who told them she couldn’t assistance since she wasn’t lerned on ticketing issues.

“At that point, we didn’t know either to giggle or cry,” says Thivakaran. “I never felt so helpless. we felt like we was banging my conduct opposite a wall.”

She says a same manager they dealt with before told them to go home, and that it shouldn’t be a problem for Air Canada to book them on another moody a subsequent day.

Passengers line adult during Toronto’s Pearson airport. The family spent a day of their scheduled moody in many lineups though Air Canada did not concede them to house a plane. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press)

The family left a airfield during 12:45 a.m. and returned during 9 the following morning. They stood in a ticketing line for dual hours this time, though when they finally got to pronounce to an agent, she pronounced she couldn’t assistance them.

Thivakaran says a representative told her that a family had been designated a “no-show,” definition that they didn’t uncover adult for their moody a prior day.

The representative also pronounced that since a tickets were purchased by a transport group and noted as a “private fare,” they’d have to get a group to solve a matter.

The family found a reason confusing. “I paid justly for this ticket. we didn’t buy it off a black market,” says Thivakaran.

‘No reason since we should be ripped off’

Thivakaran and her father visited their transport representative that same day. They contend he too was nonplussed since Air Canada didn’t usually rebook a family’s flight.

He told a integrate their usually choice was to get a reinstate and book another moody themselves.

The representative organised a reinstate and sole a family 5 new tickets on an Air Canada moody for that day. They had to compensate additional for change fees and a combined cost for last-minute tickets.

In total, they paid $12,326.38 for their trip — $5,345.83 some-more than a cost of their strange tickets. 

“This is income we worked tough to earn, and there’s no reason since we should be ripped off,” says Thivakaran.

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After a family returned from their vacation, Thivakaran complained to Air Canada and asked for compensation. The airline offering them a document for 25 per cent off their subsequent Air Canada engagement “as a goodwill gesture.”

“I usually fumed,” says Thivakaran. “That movement on their partial was usually too small too late.”

The family has usually schooled their travel word will cover a $1,350 they spent in change fees. They’re now deliberation authorised movement to try to replenish a additional $3,995.83 they paid for their last-minute tickets. They would also like an reparation from Air Canada and a full reason for their transport chaos. 

“I’m never travelling on Air Canada again,” says Thivakaran. “Even if we was on my genocide bed and we indispensable evident diagnosis in U.S., I’d rather die than go on Air Canada.”

Article source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/air-canada-family-flight-tickets-1.4280985?cmp=rss