The start of the secondary school year in Eline was scheduled for Monday. When the young girls learned that they could not return to Canada before Tuesday evening, they both cried, says their mother in an interview with Noovo Info.
“They were very anxious to return and my elder had her return to school in secondary 1 and it was very important for her to be with her comrades,” said Ms. Lecompte adding that her oldest was still crying on Monday at the idea of having missed her back to school.
The two children of Victoria went to join the family on 1is Last July. It was the first time that her children have been traveling alone. Ms. LECOMPTE says that the departure with Air Canada had gone well and that she had paid for the service for unaccompanied children, allowing her daughters to be taken care of by on -board agents during the trip.
Victoria Lecompte, however, indicates that the experience of her children was tinged after being trapped in Lyon due to the strike of on -board agents.
“There I can tell you that they never want to leave alone again,” she said.
Note that children aged 8 to 11 who travel alone must go through the support service for unaccompanied minors, according to the Air Canada website. However, this service is optional for young people aged 12 to 17.
Thus, the staff of the airline and the airport accompany them from start to finish their trip, ensuring that they are united with their appointed tutor to their final destination. Unaccompanied minors are also only allowed to travel on direct flights.
When her daughters found herself stuck in France, Victoria says that she and her husband felt “helpless” in front of the situation and that despite their calls and messages sent to Air Canada, no one could help them bring her children home faster.
“It was very difficult for us to manage the situation from Montreal. We felt completely helpless and abandoned. ”
– Victoria Lecompte
“As a parent, it’s hard to feel so helpless. Especially since as in the minor infants of the Air Canada support service, they should have had priority treatment. In my opinion, we should have had access to a special number given the fact that we paid for this additional service, ”adds the mother.
She mentions that it was via the Air Canada application that she was informed of the cancellation of her children and that the same evening her two daughters had been placed on another flight, a week later.
“We are sorry, this theft has been canceled due to the labor conflict that affects our operations. Work conflicts beyond our control could affect the flight schedule before, during, and after periods of work stoppage or slowdown, ”said the Air Canada message
Ms. LECOMPTE says he has called to the number indicated on the Air Canada site about forty times not day and that her parents in France just as her daughter also tried to call for this number, but that they were all entitled to the same automatic message indicating that no one could answer them.
“We are sorry, but after looking for flights from more than 120 air carriers over a period of three days before and after the date of your canceled flight, we were unable to modify your reservation,” Air Canada told the family via their mobile application.
Recall that around 10,000 on -board agents joined the strike stakes on August 16 and, barely a day later, the Minister of Employment, Patty Hajdu, ordered them to regain work by invoking a controversial provision of labor law, which the members of the union refused to do. The union and the airline have since concluded a provisional agreement. On -board officers should vote this week on the principle of principle which provides in particular salary increases.
Ms. LECOMPTE says he has thought of several solutions to bring her daughters back to the country earlier, going so far as to go to France to look for them or to send them to the United States and recover them by car, but that other flights were quickly filled and became more and more expensive.
Gabor Lukacs, President of Travelers’ Rights, had told CTV News for a similar story or minors were stuck abroad for a week that he is “completely unreasonable” from Air Canada to book on a flight a week later, because this breaks the provisions of the Code for the Protection of Air Passenger Rights (APPR) of Canada, which provides a time of 48 hours after the time of initial departure.
“Or they (the airline) must buy tickets to them from a competitor. Air Canada is also required to provide meal passengers, accommodation for the night and 600 euros per passenger under European regulations, “said Lukacs to CTV News.
The latter says that Air Canada must explore the options offered by neighboring airports to allow children to fly. The defender of the rights of air travelers claims that there is “no reason” for Air Canada to be able to put the two children on a flight earlier, adding that this breach of his obligations under approval could lead to a fine or costs, as provided for in articles 174 and 175 Transport law in Canada.
Victoria LECOMPTE said she was going to ask the organization’s rights of travelers to file a complaint against Air Canada.
Noovo Info tried to get an Air Canada comment, which did not provide an answer when writing these lines.
– with information from Alex Arsenych from CTV News.