How clever couple exposed airline's lies about canceling their flight in stunning David vs. Goliath court victory

A Canadian airline has been humiliated in court by two passengers who exposed their lies about the reason for a cancelled flight.

Flair Airlines, in a bid to wriggle out of paying compensation when its 3:10 p.m. flight from Calgary to Vancouver was canceled on August 29 last year, blamed first a bird strike and then the weather.

Suspicious passengers turned internet sleuths Olivia Donner and James Broadhurst did their own research and found no record of a bird strike on the Canadian Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System (CADORS).

The budget airline then emailed Donner to blame the weather for the cancellation, insisting it did not have to pay compensation for factors outside its control.

'There is no evidence before me, other than Flair's bare assertion, showing that a bird strike cancelled the flight,' a tribunal judge ruled on Wednesday, 'Flair had the opportunity to provide evidence and submissions but did not do so.'

Olivia Donner turned internet sleuth after the airline blamed first a bird strike and then bad weather in a bid to avoid compensating her for a canceled flight

The Alberta-based airline was Canada's most complained about in 2022, averaging 15.3 complaints per 100 flights

The couple were told that their flight was canceled in an email less than six hours before it was due to take off.

The airline blamed a bird strike and later told the tribunal that the crew of the aircraft reported several bird strikes to the tower at the Vancouver airport as the plane touched down on its previous flight.

But the airline could not explain why it was not reported as required, and could not supply the message it claimed one of its maintenance experts had sent to his bosses.

The couple were booked on a 5 a.m. flight the following morning, eventually landing 14 hours after they were originally scheduled to.

Donner began digging when the company refused her application for compensation through the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, turning for help to the Facebook group Air Passenger Rights Canada.

'I waited a couple weeks and checked the CADORS report, which had no matching record of a bird incident,' she wrote on its page.

'I emailed Flair for compensation with all the details of the situation, requesting $500 as I arrived hours late and they had not proven it was due to a situation out of their control.

'They replied, now telling me that the flight was cancelled due to "weather." Now it seems clear they are lying.'

Members of the Facebook group were not surprised to hear about her experience with an airline that was Canada's most complained about in 2022, averaging 15.3 complaints per 100 flights.

The Alberta-based airline promotes itself as the country's leading independent ultra low-cost carrier under the slogan 'plane and simple'.

The airline is hunting for a new chief executive after Stephen Jones retired in June 

Tribunal member Jeffrey Drozdiak said his decision was simple, ordering the airline to pay Donner and Broadhurst $500 each in compensation within 15 days.

'When a party does not provide relevant evidence with no explanation, the tribunal may make an adverse inference,' he wrote in his judgment.

'An adverse inference is when the CRT assumes the party did not provide the relevant evidence because it would have damaged their case. I find an adverse inference is appropriate here.

'Based on this adverse inference, I find the flight cancellation was likely within Flair's control.'

The decision was greeted as a victory by some of the Facebook group's 200,000 members, but many suspected it would make little difference to other passengers.

'Odds are very high that airlines will roll the dice and deny compensation as default,' one person wrote.

'Slap on wrist,' wrote another. 'Is this how our courts ensure that Flair will follow rules next time around??' 

Some warned that carriers are facing an era of greater scrutiny.

'Bravo. At some point the airlines will realize that passengers are getting smarter and better at representing themselves and just maybe they'll wake up and treat us correctly.

'Until then the fight goes on, they keep losing, and passengers win!'