Air Canada statement on its appeal of a Canadian Transportation Agency decision

In response to a story on CBC on February 13, 2025, by reporter Sophia Harris, titled “Air Canada was ordered to pay a passenger $2,000 for delayed luggage. Instead, it's taking him to court”, it is important to give the public certain facts that were not included in the story to give them a complete understanding of the issue.

In particular, in its reporting, the CBC failed to include the fact that the customers claimed $1,310 for a monogrammed Tumi bag that was purchased on May 28, 2022, two days after the delayed bag was returned.

The customer’s bag was delivered less than 24 hours after their own arrival. The customer’s flight arrived in Vancouver at 11:08 am on May 25, 2022 and the bag was delivered to their hotel on May 26, 2022 at 9:15 am. Below is a list of items claimed, which was also provided to CBC (all times local), but not included in its report.

May 25, 2022:  $570.12 for toiletries, make up and skin care products

                                $1,121.86: $348.84 for a dress, 2 x trousers, 3 x tops

                                $247.52 for 4 x sets of lingerie and 1 x sleepwear

                                $525.50 for underwear, jeans and 2 x t-shirts

May 26, 2022: Bag delivered to hotel at 9:15 am

May 26, 2022:  $433.61 for one pair of ladies sneakers purchased at 6:54 pm

May 28, 2022: $1310.40 for one personally monogrammed Tumi piece of luggage, purchased at 11:23 pm

Under current law, Air Canada cannot appeal decisions by the Canadian Transportation Agency to the agency itself and must instead appeal to the Federal Court. In this case, Air Canada has chosen to appeal to the Federal Court because it is seeking guidance on what constitutes reasonable expenses that customers can claim.