The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal (the
“CRT”) is Canada's first online quasi-judicial
tribunal. It employs a collaborative process for resolving certain
legal claims with a value of up to $5,000 CAD. Since its inception,
the CRT has issued several decisions relating to air passenger
complaints. Two recent decisions of note are summarized
below.
In
Stark v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2024 BCCRT 64,
the passenger experienced cancellation of her international flight
in December 2022. Instead of waiting to be rebooked by the carrier,
the passenger quickly requested a refund and rebooked herself onto
another carrier. She later filed a CRT claim seeking $2,798.38 CAD
for delay compensation pursuant to s. 19(1) of the Air
Passenger Protection Regulations, SOR/2019-150 (the
“APPR”), refund of her alternate flight ticket, and
reimbursement for hotel expenses. The carrier submitted that the
Passenger was limited to recovering a refund of the unused portion
of her
