Originally Posted by
RCyyz
Apparently the answer is "yes" to all 3 questions.
Cancelling tickets and stranding people seems pretty extreme even for what's possibly just another AC IT glitch. One would hope that people in the C-suite are starting to lose some sleep over this.
Alas, I don't see any particular downside for AC on this. For example, in the Terms of Carriage (emphasis added):
So it's right there in the the ToC - AC has the right to cancel tickets if they aren't satisfied with various conditions. People can complain all they want to AC - maybe they'll get a 5% off coupon. They can also complain to the CTA but
as another thread suggests, the CTA has dismissed many (most) of the claims filed against AC. A cursory examination of recent CTA decisions indicates that these dismissals come because the CTA has found that AC has upheld the Terms of Carriage thus there was no wrongdoing.
I'm not even sure a Passenger Bill of Rights will help unless this specific situation is explicitly covered.
So unless AC is concerned with customer service / brand impact, I'm not sure there will be any real incentive for them to look into why so many tickets are seemingly being suddenly cancelled.
Then it' s time the government steps in and pass a law that makes such behavior illegal, regardless of what the contract says. This is the perfect time to do it as the airline industry is not in favor right now. Think the government can' t tell a private company what to do guess again; the government decides the minimum price for milk, what a radio station can play and in my province the language our business operates in. A company can't contract it' s way out of a liability if a law prevents it; for business can' t pay less than minimum wage or refuse to pay overtime rates regardless of any contract that was agreed to. Force the airlines to either prove fraud to a judge or fly the passenger on the flight that they have paid for.
I' m not anti-airline either; I have received amazing service from front-line staff and I know how complex airline operations are and I am very patient when IROPS happen. It' s the " let them eat cake " mentality that airline managers ( and their spokespeople who deal with the media) have when passengers have to suffer ( those poor senior citizens stranded in Portugal for example ) due to intentional actions of airline employees that has to stop. Severe fines against airlines and also against airline managers ( and possible prison time) will put a stop to this in a heartbeat. I don' t know why governments don't act now ( especially while the Mr Dao " incident" is still in the public' s mind ) . I' m pretty sure the public ( and voters) would welcome any law that takes some power away from the airline industry and gives it to the passengers instead.