Passenger Rights Ads Pulled

A passenger rights ad campaign has been pulled from the terminals at two Canadian airports.

Flight Claim, a company that works to get compensation for wronged passengers who have a right to a partial refund in the EU, has had its ads pulled from both Toronto and Montreal airports. The company signed a contract to display its ads in Montreal, but they’d only been up for four days when the airport pulled them. The Toronto team met with Flight Claim and outright refused to run the ads. The company’s advertisements inform passengers of their rights to get up to $1,800 for a late, overbooked, or canceled flight, and offers services to help work on the case.

“We’re just there to protect and help the rights of the passengers, so we feel it’s kind of sad that we’re not able to publicize in a free market,” Jacob Charbonneau, Flight Claim’s general manager, told CBC News.

Montreal’s airport spokesperson, Stéphanie Lepage, said the ads were pulled in order to prevent trouble with the airlines – though Flight Claim received an email from the airport’s advertising agency saying that it was removed because of pressure from the airlines. Lepage says that that isn’t accurate.

“Passengers, but also airlines, are our customers,” she told CBC News. “We did not want to have a conflict between airlines and passengers. We realized there was a mistake and we shouldn’t have published this type of advertising within our terminal.”

The Toronto Airport’s spokesperson said that the ads were refused because they were confusing.

“Before enabling businesses to profit by advertising to travellers, the [Greater Toronto Airports Authority] has a responsibility to ensure that there is clarity for its passengers about what these new rules mean,” spokesperson Natalie Moncur told CBC News.

But Charbonneau thinks that that’s unfair to travelers.

“Not permitting advertising that will help passengers travelling through GTAA property know their rights for compensation is a disservice to the customer,” he told CBC News.

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