Scottsdale family waiting for compensation promised by airline
Was bumped from Air Canada flights while returning from vacation
SCOTTSDALE, AZ (3TV/CBS 5) — A Scottsdale family enjoyed a trip to Europe this summer. When the trip home turned into a fiasco, the airline promised to make it up to them. But months later, the check hadn’t arrived and they reached out to On Your Side.
Eduardo Martinez and his family spent part of this summer in Spain, connecting with family and even taking a cruise. But when it was time to head home and they arrived at the airport, they got some bad news from their airline, Air Canada. “They said, ‘Well, we have a problem,’” Martinez said. “I say, ‘What’s that?’ She says the connecting flight from Montreal to Phoenix is on standby. I’m like, ‘What’s that?’ And they say you don’t have a flight.”
Martinez says he was confused. He bought the Air Canada tickets four months in advance and even had assigned seats! So, he had no idea why he and his family were placed on standby. Unfortunately, they were all bumped from that flight and then bumped from the next flight an hour later. To get back to Arizona, Martinez and his family couldn’t get another flight until the next morning.
However, Air Canada did compensate them for the inconvenience. “So they give us a voucher,” he said. “They say, ‘You’re going to get a voucher for the boarding denied. We are offering now 1,800 Canadian dollars,’ and I go, ‘OK, well, that’s good.’”
That’s 1,800 Canadian dollars per family member. However, months passed and the vouchers never arrived. So, Martinez did some research and discovered he was actually getting short-changed by the Air Canada offer. “So I start looking at things online, and then I saw that in that situation, if the delay is more than nine hours, we’re supposed to get 2,400 Canadian dollars instead of 1,800.”
He’s right. According to regulations from the Canadian Transportation Agency, if a traveler is denied boarding and it delays their arrival by nine hours or more, they are owed $2,400 per person and it must be paid within two days.
Well, Martinez’s been waiting nearly three months. So On Your Side got involved and we got a hold of Air Canada. After looking into the issue, Air Canada acknowledged they dropped the ball, apologized, and agreed to send Martinez exactly what he’s owed -- $7,200 Canadian. That works out to nearly $5,500 American.
Martinez says it only happened with the help of On Your Side, and he hopes they follow through. “I just want to get what we were promised,” he said. Air Canada says the check is in the mail. We’ll let you know when it arrives in a follow-up report.
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