Sunwing’s lawyers likely charge more than that per hour. This is either to avoid setting a precedent that the company doesn’t like or they’re incredibly petty. I suppose those aren’t mutually exclusive…
It’s 100% about precedent. They don’t want to acknowledge that they have a responsibility to compensate, especially since they’re fighting a legal battle with the government right now to try to prove that very point.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Last year, the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) ordered Sunwing Airlines to pay Mick Anslow and his wife $800 for a flight delay from Cancun, Mexico, to Regina in 2020.
In the meantime, Sunwing is proceeding with its case, and WestJet customers whose weekend travel plans were disrupted due to the airline’s labour dispute are still trying to understand their rights.
The agency initially concluded in February 2023 that Sunwing must pay the Anslows a total of $800 for their 6.5-hour flight delay — a lower-than-usual amount due to special rules during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The agency had determined that Sunwing must compensate the Anslows — plus any other passengers on the flight who filed claims — because the airline could have prevented the delay by turning on a pipe heater.
The Anslows’ initial Sunwing complaint is one of the tens of thousands of passenger-airline compensation disputes the CTA has had to tackle since Ottawa introduced its air passenger regulations in late 2019.
“The CTA’s proposed list [of exceptions] completely ignores safety-related circumstances,” Jeff Morrison, president and CEO of the National Airlines Council of Canada, said in an email.
The original article contains 1,017 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 83%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!