Air Canada gets it wrong. Again.

Air Canada is a classic case of a business without a contingency plan.

It consistently alienates its customers and when the blowback becomes fierce it then changes tack.

It was chaotic during Covid with lost bags and cancelled flights the norm. It was sadly under-prepared and passengers paid the price.

And now, after rorting its staff so they went on a five-day strike, Air Canada is again playing catch-up after leaving passengers stranded and refusing to pay their food and hotel costs.

Oops! But finally the airline realised the publicity it was getting was dire.

Suddenly Air Canada has announced “enhanced compensation” after several days of leaving thousands of travellers broke and anxious

The comedy capers airline will now cover ‘reasonable’ hotel costs, meals, ground transport and other related expenses for travellers who had cancelled or heavily delayed flights in the past week, news hub Travel Mole reported.

“We deeply apologise to all customers whose travel plans were disrupted, and we’re committed to making things right for all customers — particularly those who were stranded during their trip,” Air Canada EVP Mark Nasr said.

“Earlier this week, we put in place a special commitment to reimburse out-of-pocket transportation costs, including on other airlines, rail, ground or ferries. Today, we are taking another step forward to make things right.”

Air Canada said compensation claims must include receipts for travel and hotel expenses and can be submitted online.

About 500,000 passengers had their flight plans upended due to the strike which started last weekend.

Australian government to hit airlines with a wet lettuce leaf

In Europe if a commercial flight is delayed or cancelled and it is the fault of the airline then affected customers automatically get compensation. Serious money. Not vouchers.

As well as being re-booked on the next available flight.

The amount of compensation can be between €250 and €600 per passenger depending on the delay and where your flight was going.

In Australia, the Albanese Government is trying to appease travellers frustrated by years of incompetence.

But it doesn’t want to seriously impact its airline friends. It has, instead, revealed plans to hit them with a wet lettuce leaf while talking big.

So while you might get your money back if your flight is cancelled you certainly won’t see any compensation.

Transport Minister Catherine King says the government “is working hard to get Australian travellers a better deal”, by releasing the draft Aviation Customer Rights Charter for public consultation over the summer period.

She says the charter sets out the expectations of fair treatment by airlines and airports to their customers to ensure customers get what they pay for, or get their money back.

"The Australian flying public deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and this includes receiving timely and fair remedies when their flight is cancelled or delayed.

"That is exactly what this charter is about, providing clarity to consumers on their rights - giving them greater certainty about what they can expect, and where to go if these conditions are not met."

The Charter proposes that customers have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, in an accessible and inclusive environment; accurate, timely and accessible information and customer service; prompt and fair remedies and support during and after cancellations, delays and disruptions; safe and timely baggage handling and fair remedies for damage and delays; the protection of their personal information; provide feedback, make complaints and exercise their rights without retribution.

So a whole lot of talk. Not much serious change.

Consumer rights organsation CHOICE is calling for more positive action. 

“We are concerned that the proposed charter does not comprehensively acknowledge rights to compensation for delayed or cancelled flights," says head of campaigns Rosie Thomas.

"Introducing a European-style compensation scheme is one way to do this, but even without a similar scheme in Australia, consumers deserve clear guidance about their compensation rights under the consumer law’s existing consumer guarantees.

"CHOICE will engage with the consultation process to make sure this is rectified.”

King encourages the flying public, industry and other stakeholders, to give their feedback on the draft charter before submissions close on February 28, 2025.

You can make your thoughts known at www.infrastructure.gov.au/Aviation-Rights-Charter

Delta on the hook for half a billion dollars

In Europe and the US, airlines are responsible for paying up if things go wrong.

In Australia, our airlines can stuff up, break the rules, let down their passengers and there are absolutely no consequences. 

There is a toothless consumer watchdog and a government that protects big business at the expense of the little guy.

The US, it has been reported that the recent global IT outage and the days-long meltdown that followed could end up costing Delta Air Lines alone up to half a billion dollars.

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian put the cost at around $US500 million, news portal Travel Mole reports.

As well as the lost revenue due to days of cancellations, Bastian said Delta paid out "tens of millions of dollars per day" in compensation and hotels.

The airline said it has processed thousands of refund requests after it cancelled over 5,000 flights.

The outage was caused by a failed software update by CrowdStrike, which took thousands of websites and online services which used Microsoft systems out of action.

Once fixed the software issue was fixed Delta had further issues for several days over its crew scheduling system.   

Qantas to pay up to customers it let down

Qantas will $100 million as a civil penalty for breaking consumer laws and make amends to 86,000 passengers it booked on flights that it cancelled or failed to operate without adequate notice.

These included some so-called “ghost flights” that it did not have any intention of operating.

Under a settlement agreed to with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian national carrier will commence a projected $20 million remediation program for impacted passengers.

Affected passeners will receive payments ranging between $225 and $450.

Subject to the approval of the Federal Court of Australia, Qantas has agreed to pay the civil penalty.

Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the agreement represented "another important step forward" as Qantas worked towards restoring confidence in the national carrier.

“When flying resumed after the Covid shutdown, we recognise Qantas let down customers and fell short of our own standards," Hudson said.

"We know many of our customers were affected by our failure to provide cancellation notifications in a timely manner and we are sincerely sorry. The return to travelling was already stressful for many and we did not deliver enough support for customers and did not have the technology and systems in place to support our people.

“We have since updated our processes and are investing in new technology across the Qantas Group to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“We thank the ACCC for their co-operation in reaching this outcome, which means we can compensate affected customers much sooner than if the case had continued in the Federal Court. We are focused on making the remediation process as quick and seamless as possible for customers.”

Consumer organisation CHOICE said reimbursment in situations like this should be automatic. 

“Qantas agreeing to pay $120 million dollars and admitting it misled consumers after ACCC court action is a significant result,” CHOICE said. “The proposed settlement sends a very clear message to all airlines and travel service providers that misleading consumers about cancellations does not fly.

“CHOICE is pleased to see compensation included in the settlement. Over 80,000 consumers have had their travel plans derailed by Qantas’ behaviour over a number of years and these payments are already well overdue. We’ve heard from countless consumers about having to fight tooth and nail to receive refunds or compensation from airlines for delayed or cancelled flights.

“Consumers should not need regulator action to receive compensation when it’s owed.”

Details about how to lodge a claim: www.qantasremediation.deloitte.com.au

Angry passenger takes on shoddy airline behaviour - and wins

An angry airline passenger has gone to court and had bailiffs sent to an airport after being let down by a budget carrier.

Russell Quirk sent bailiffs to Luton Airport to confront Wizz Air over money owed to him after his family's flights to Portugal were cancelled at the last minute, the BBC reported.

Quirk said he was left to to find another route to Portugal which cost him £4,500 ($8,170) and after months of waiting for Wizz Air to reimburse him he went to court and ended up sending in the bailiffs.

Wizz Air paid up, apologised and said its performance "fell short of our own aspirations and our customers' expectations".

The company is one of a number of budget airlines facing county court claims against them, consumer magazine Which? has reported.

The way customers have been treated by Wizz Air has been "shocking, shambolic and shoddy", Quirk told the BBC.

He had booked flights from Luton Airport to Faro, in Portugal,  in January last year for a family holiday with his wife and three daughters.

He awoke early on the morning of their flight to find a message from Wizz Air saying it was cancelled.

"There was no explanation, no alternative offered and no apology," he said.

"I had to wake my three daughters and tell them we weren't going on holiday - they were very upset."

With hotels, transfers and an airport lounge already paid for, he said the only viable option was to find another carrier, with which the family flew the following day.

Those flights, together with money lost on a night in hotel rooms and other expenses, cost him £4,500, he said.

On his return he tried to get recompense from Wizz Air, but he said it took almost two months for the cost of his original flights to be returned along with other legal compensation.

But, he said, Wizz Air repeatedly ignored his claim for "consequential losses" - the £4,500 extra he had spent.

He took his case to the county court but said Wizz Air "ignored" the judgement made against the company, so bailiffs were sent in to the Wizz Air desk at Luton Airport.

"Their option was to hand over the money or the bailiffs would take it in goods - it might have been chairs, tables, computers or an aircraft," Quirk said.

He said taking his case to court cost him about £180 in court fees, plus £60 to send in the bailiffs - although additional costs associated with the bailiff visit would have had to be paid by Wizz Air.

"Increasingly businesses are thinking they can treat customers like dirt and I'm determined to eradicate that," Quirk told the BBC.

"My message is, where big companies stonewall you, if you persevere you can get what is owed to you."

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: "In the summer of 2022, due to unprecedented levels of disruption across Europe and the UK which affected the entire industry, we fell short of our own aspirations and our customers' expectations.

"When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption. We are sorry about this and we are working to ensure that our customers' experience with Wizz is better this year."