Gillies v. WestJet Airlines Ltd., 2024 BCCRT 426

Does this apply to you?

This case applies if your flight was delayed for more than one reason, and the airline says weather that made safe flight operations impossible was the main one. It also applies if you bought tickets for family members and want to claim their compensation yourself. The tribunal ruled against the passenger on both points.

What happened

Ronald Gillies booked five WestJet tickets for himself and his family from Vancouver to Los Angeles on 19 December 2022. The flight was due to leave at 4:15 pm. It was delayed several times and cancelled at about 11:30 pm. Mr. Gillies rebooked with another airline out of Bellingham, Washington, the next day. WestJet refunded the cancelled flight.

Mr. Gillies claimed $5,000 at the Civil Resolution Tribunal (CRT): $1,000 in APPR compensation for each of the five passengers.

What the passenger argued

Mr. Gillies accepted that weather caused the final cancellation. But he said the first delays were crew problems, which are within the airline's control. If the flight had left on time, he said, the weather would not have mattered. Other flights were leaving Vancouver that afternoon. A WestJet agent later told him on a recorded call that the reason was "ramp controllable", which means within WestJet's control. He also said WestJet should have had a reserve crew.

What WestJet argued

WestJet said the delays and the cancellation were outside its control. It filed a 34-page report from the Vancouver Airport Authority on the December 2022 storm, hourly weather data, a runway condition report, and a statement from a WestJet operations employee with 15 years' experience. That statement broke the delay into parts: 40 minutes for a late aircraft, 155 minutes for a crew held up by de-icing in Calgary and a chain of earlier flights, 35 minutes for passenger handling, and 175 minutes for weather at Vancouver. WestJet said the agent on the call gave wrong information.

What the tribunal decided

Only the passenger can claim. Section 2(1) of the APPR says airlines are liable to passengers. The tribunal followed Mohamed v. Air Canada, 2023 BCCRT 661, and held that compensation is owed to the passenger who was inconvenienced, not to the person who paid for the ticket. Mr. Gillies had no standing to claim for the other four. They could bring their own claims, subject to the limitation period.

The main cause was weather. Where several disruptions affect a flight, the tribunal applied the Canadian Transportation Agency's approach in Decision 122-C-A-2021: find the primary reason, the most significant contributing factor. The tribunal accepted WestJet's evidence. Even if the 35-minute passenger handling delay was within WestJet's control, the delays and the cancellation were mainly caused by the storm and the airport's problems. Mr. Gillies himself accepted that the forecast was worsening and that weather caused the cancellation.

A refund satisfied the APPR. Under section 10(3), when the cause is outside the airline's control, the airline must rebook or refund, and no compensation is owed. WestJet refunded the ticket. The tribunal dismissed the claim.

Why this matters

• If you paid for other people's tickets, each passenger must file their own claim. One person cannot claim for the group.
• When there are several causes, the tribunal looks for the biggest one. Short delays within the airline's control do not turn a weather cancellation into a compensable one.
• An airline agent's comment on a call, like "ramp controllable", does not decide the case. The tribunal looks at the operational records.
• The airline that files detailed evidence usually wins the "control" question. Ask the airline for its delay codes and records before you file.

The details