Air Canada Bumped A 10-Year-Old Kid From A Family Vacation Because The Flight Was Overbooked

Five hours of driving and $1,000 later, they finally made their flight.

This is Brett Doyle with his family from Charlottetown, PEI. A snafu involving Air Canada's overbooking policy nearly ruined their vacation.

Brett Doyle

Doyle, his two sons, and his wife were set to travel to Costa Rica over March Break. The plan was to fly from Charlottetown to Montreal for a connecting flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. But, when they checked in online with Air Canada, Doyle's 10-year-old son Cole didn't have the seat for the flight to Montreal they'd paid for months prior.

"We sort of thought it was weird and when we first phoned [Air Canada] the lines were so busy they didn’t even take us," Doyle told BuzzFeed Canada.

They drove to Charlottetown's airport to solve the problem, only to find out that the flight had been oversold and Cole had been bumped.

"The agent told us it was oversold by six people, its March Break, and it's highly unlikely that anything would open up."

The ticket agent suggested they drive to the next closest airport — two hours away in Moncton, New Brunswick — to catch a different flight that connected with the rest of the family in Montreal.

Andrew Vaughan / The Canadian Press

Doyle bought a ticket for himself and his Cole, so he wouldn't travel alone, and booked it to Moncton. They arrived only to find out that flight had been cancelled and the next flights for Montreal were already oversold.

Doyle and his son ended up making the drive to Halifax — five hours from home — to grab a flight to Montreal to meet their connection.

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"I was very very frustrated, just mentally exhausted, physically exhausted," said Doyle.

"The whole time I felt like screaming and shaking people, but I was with my 10-year-old son and he was nervous enough so I didn’t want to add anything to that. I just said, 'no, it’s okay buddy, this is normal,' but of course inside i was losing my mind."

Doyle estimates he spent an extra $1,000 running around trying to fix the situation.

Throughout all this, Doyle was trying to reach Air Canada to discuss compensation. He was told to fill out an online form, which he did, along with sending emails and Facebook messages. But he says he was met with silence.

Doyle said it wasn't until PEI newspaper The Guardian contacted Air Canada in April for comment that he finally heard back.

theguardian.pe.ca

Air Canada spokesperson Isabelle Arthur said they contacted Doyle last month, although Doyle said he didn't actually hear from them until last Saturday. Air Canada also said they apologized to Doyle and have offered $2,500 in compensation along with a cheque to cover expenses.

"Our policy is very clear and this situation involving a family travelling together should not have occurred. We are following up to understand what went wrong," said Arthur in an emailed statement.

Although he's happy to have gotten an answer, he's upset that Air Canada would overbook a flight and then, even due to error, bump a minor.

"I’d be sent to jail if I sold something in my store twice," said Doyle, who runs several sporting goods businesses. "I can’t really think of any other industry in the world that you can sell the same thing twice and basically have zero recourse."

Facebook: brett.doyle.7

Doyle said he thinks the government should be stepping in to crack down on overbooking on flights. But, in the mean time, he thinks the only way to avoid what he went through is to cough up the extra dough to select a seat.

"The warning that I have is sort of a sad one. I think Air Canada is forcing us into a situation that we’re essentially buying a standby ticket," said Doyle.

"If you don’t go online and pre-purchase your seat before getting to the airport, you’re not guaranteed a seat... It’s another cash grab."