Court Tells WestJet it Can’t Limit Reimbursements on Hotels and Meals

A ruling by a B.C. Supreme Court judge means WestJet can no longer tell travellers there are fixed dollar limits on reimbursement for meals and accommodations in the event of flight delays or cancellations.

WestJet’s website formerly notified travellers that reimbursements would be limited to a maximum of $150 per night for accommodations in Canada, $200 outside the country, and up to $45 per day for food.

The carrier said it took the wording down from its website in August 2024, replacing it with rules that impose no ceiling for costs incurred due to a delay or cancellation within the carrier’s control.

Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, airlines must offer free “hotel or other comparable accommodation that is reasonable” if a traveller has to wait overnight after a trip disruption that was within the carrier’s control. Pax must also be offered “food and drink in reasonable quantities” for disruptions of more than two hours.

But Gabor Lukacs, the high-profile passenger advocate who heads the group Air Passenger rights, told Canadian Press that the need for a lawsuit in the first place suggests major flaws in Canada’s passenger rights regime.

“The fact that it came to this point that we have to go to a judge of the Supreme Court of the province just to get a confirmation of what is in the law is a very, very troubling state of affairs,” Lukacs said.

The B.C. ruling states that “passengers would suffer harm” if WestJet continued to communicate the policy to customers or post it on its website. In court filings, the airline said its current repayment approach follows the law and that it has no plans to revive the previous policy.

“WestJet will consider reasonable requests for expenses incurred due to the subject flight disruption,” it stated in an affidavit.

A future trial will examine whether WestJet is considering each passenger claim on its merits rather than imposing a blanket cap on reimbursement as it did previously, despite having removed the offensive language from its website. It will also work to determine whether the company’s communication around repayment was “deceptive,” B.C. Supreme Court judge John Gibb-Carsley stated.

When airlines turn down reimbursement requests, passengers are forced to complain to the Canadian Transportation Agency. As of late 2024, wait times for complaint resolution were up to two years.