CALGARY—In an early test of new passenger-rights regulations, an Edmonton woman has received greater compensation from WestJet for disrupting her honeymoon. Though Chelsea Williamson and her husband Sean Fitzpatrick eventually got their $900 each, Williamson is still frustrated with the effort it took: phone calls, Twitter messages and finally an official complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA).“I understand that the regulations are new, and there are definitely going to be hiccups in terms of the airlines knowing how to properly apply the new rules,” she said. “But the extent that I had to go to … was really disappointing.”On July 22, Williamson and Fitzpatrick were on their way to their honeymoon when they found out their flight had been changed without their knowledge. The switch resulted in a five-hour delay.After several attempts to get an answer, Williamson was told the flight change was due to overselling of tickets by Delta, WestJet’s partner airline. She said WestJet called the situation a “schedule change” and offered each of them 125 “WestJet dollars” to put toward future purchases. However, Williamson felt the situation amounted to “denied boarding.” As defined by Air Passenger Protection Regulations that came into force a week before, denied boarding takes place when a passenger has a valid ticket but isn’t allowed on because the flight is full for reasons within the airline’s control, such as overbooking or a change in aircraft due to scheduled maintenance.The regulations stipulate that compensation should be between $900 and $2,400, depending on the delay.Williamson took her complaint to the CTA, which on Aug. 16 announced it was launching an inquiry into “whether the terms of WestJet’s tariff dealing with schedule changes and irregularities are just and reasonable” under the new regulations.Williamson said the CTA reached ou ...
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