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Canada’s airline regulator says air carriers ferrying Canadians abroad have a responsibility to get delayed or stranded passengers back on track “as soon as possible,” including when unpredictable circumstances unfold, such as the violence in Mexico that recently disrupted flight service to the tourist destination of Puerto Vallarta.
“For flight delays or cancellations, airlines must try to minimize the impacts that they have on passengers and their travel,” the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) told CBC News by email, in response to a question about an Ontario couple’s ongoing, days-long wait for a flight out of Puerto Vallarta.
“They must always ensure that passengers can complete their itinerary as soon as possible.”
There are tens of thousands of Canadians in Mexico at the moment, according to Global Affairs Canada. This includes more than 16,000 in Jalisco state, where Puerto Vallarta is located, and where Douglas Connors and his partner, Alexandru Sonoc, have been vacationing for several weeks.
Connors and Sonoc told CBC News that they flew to Mexico on a Flair Airlines flight at the start of the month and were due to fly home to eastern Ontario on Sunday, but their flight out of Puerto Vallarta was cancelled on short notice.
Calm has started to return to Mexico following the killing of the powerful cartel leader known as El Mencho, but travel advisories remain and Canadians are waiting for flights to resume. Meanwhile, Mexico’s president said authorities tracked a romantic partner of the drug kingpin to start the operation that left about 30 cartel members and 25 troops dead.
Many parts of Mexico saw an outbreak of violence that day, after special forces killed the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel in Jalisco state.
Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads at more than 250 points in 20 Mexican states, including in Puerto Vallarta, and sent smoke billowing into the air.
Those events led to Canadian airlines temporarily halting service to Puerto Vallarta, though they have since resumed service there.
Proposed rebooking 9 days after
Connors and Sonoc said Flair subsequently rebooked them on a departing flight on March 3, a date that is more than a week after their now-cancelled flight would have departed from Mexico.
Connors noted that Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations say that large airlines, like Flair, are obligated to rebook passengers on flights within 48 hours, when circumstances occur that fall outside carriers’ control.
Citing the same regulations, the CTA confirmed to CBC News that’s correct.
“For large airlines, like Flair, and for situations outside their control, they must rebook passengers, free of charge, on their next available flight or on the next available flight of an airline with which they have a commercial agreement with from the passengers’ original airport within 48 hours after the departure time on their original ticket,” the agency told CBC News.
A passenger could also be booked “on a flight leaving another airport, if there is an option nearby, if they cannot book them on a flight leaving within 48 hours at the original airport.”
The CTA further said passengers who believe an airline has fallen short in meeting its obligations must first file a formal complaint with that air carrier.
“Those who are not satisfied with the airline’s response, or have not received a response from the airline within 30 days, can then file a formal complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency.”
The regulator declined to comment directly on the case involving Connors and Sonoc, given its potential to result in a formal complaint. Connors and Sonoc told CBC News they intend to do so.
In a followup question, CBC News asked the regulator if it plans to reach out to Flair and other airlines about how they have lived up to the requirements for customers in Mexico who had been trying to leave on Sunday. The CTA indicated it would be looking into the recent flight disruptions in Puerto Vallarta.
Sonoc said he suspects that he and Connors are not the only customers who have taken issue with how Flair has handled the situation in Puerto Vallarta. “They are not doing this just to us,” he said in a brief interview on Wednesday.
Flair points to ‘region-wide disruption’
CBC News asked Flair Airlines how many of its customers remain in Mexico, but the company did not disclose that information.
“This was a region-wide disruption, and we will not operate unless we are confident it is safe to do so,” the company said in an emailed statement.
“Our teams have been working around the clock to support affected customers with rebooking options across our network and with other carriers where possible, as well as full cancellation and refund options.”
Connors and Sonoc will be heading home on an Air Canada flight on Thursday — an arrangement they made themselves, without the help of staff at Flair Airlines.
The Ontario residents opted to seek a refund from Flair, after trying and failing to rebook an alternate flight home with the airline that had brought them to Mexico in the first place.
“We finally just gave up on Flair,” Connors said via email.