AIR CANADA TO OFFER HIGHER COMPENSATION FOR BUMPED PASSANGERS

OLIVER FLINT/ Ollie’s World of Writing

TORONTO- Passengers onboard Canada’s largest flag ship carrier “Air Canada” will soon receive more compensation for being bumped from their flights. Although Air Canada has not made an immediate ruling on how much passengers will see, professional business analyzers say the flat price will vary from around 200-300 dollars depending on the length and duration of the passenger’s flight.

Being bumped is a relatively new ideal in the world of Air Travel. To be bumped from a flight is to be denied a seat on a plane when you have a confirmed reservation. It results from overbooking, an airline practice designed to fill the empty seats that no-show passengers leave behind. In the US alone, nearly 54,000 passengers were involuntarily bumped in the first nine months of 2009, up from about 47,000 fliers in the same period in 2008.

Many ask how they can avoid getting bumped from their flight,

"It literally varies on a flight-to-flight, day-to-day basis," says Tim Winship, publisher of Frequent Flier, a website that reports on the industry's frequent-flier programs. "It's a dynamic formula rather than a set formula."

This issue was brought to Air Canada from Halifax Native Gabor Lukacs, a 29 year old Mathematics Professor at the University of Manitoba. Gabor was flying home to Halifax from Winnipeg for vacation when he was stopped at his gate and told he had been bumped from the flight involuntarily; the ticket agent then offered him a $100 travel voucher.

“It’s outrageous!” Gabor ranted “First I am bumped, and then Air Canada only offers me a $100 travel voucher. I had to wait in the airport for 6 hours for the next flight!”

Air Canada has one of the lowest compensation policies in the airline market. In the US, passengers can get up to $650 or $1,300 US, depending on delay length on many American airliners. In Europe, passengers can receive up to $800 in compensation depending on length and duration of flight.

Canadian Airline and Air Canada competitor WestJet, just recently got out of some trouble with the government about not offering enough for lost language aboard there flights. Their current compensation for involuntary bumped flights is a 200$ base fair.

Air Canada says it will review their policy on compensation in the coming days with executives. Air Canada has 30 days to determine the new compensation amount.

 
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