B.C.’s Civil Resolution Tribunal has ordered a Vancouver travel agency to pay a man $3,300 in restitution after a planned holiday to Cancun, Mexico went sideways.
In a July 23 decision, tribunal member Megan Stewart said Eduardo Aparaschivei bought a vacation package for himself and Rodica Aparaschivei for $6,208.
The two filed the case against respondent Skyland Travel Inc.
Stewart said WestJet Airlines cancelled the outbound flight and re-booked the pair on a different flight.
WestJet was not a party to the dispute.
The pair did not accept the itinerary change and ultimately cancelled their trip. WestJet refunded the couple $908 for the flight.
Their insurer paid them $2,000 under their travel insurance policy.
“The applicants claim the balance of the package’s purchase price, which is $3,300,” Stewart said.
What happened?
It was in December 2023 that Aparaschivei booked a vacation package with Skyland.
On the Jan. 17, 2024 travel day, WestJet cancelled the direct Vancouver-Cancun flight after a 12-hour delay at the airport, including five hours on the tarmac.
WestJet re-booked the two on a flight later that evening.
However, the replacement flight included an eight-hour stopover in Calgary.
The Aparaschiveis didn’t accept the replacement flight because they were exhausted, which Stewart said was reasonable in the circumstances.
“Since Skyland was unable to offer an acceptable flight to the applicants’ destination, the applicants say it should have offered a voucher for future redemption toward travel services, or a refund. Skyland did neither, so the applicants say it breached the parties’ contract,” Stewart said.
For its part, Skyland said WestJet gave the pair the option to choose a flight other than the replacement flight.
But, Skyland said the two decided to cancel the flight instead.
“In these circumstances, Skyland says it did nothing wrong and is not responsible to reimburse the applicants the balance of their vacation package cost,” Stewart said.
Aparaschivei said choosing another flight on his own was not an option without Skyland confirming the hotel was still available.
“However, when Mr. Aparaschivei spoke with a Skyland representative on Jan. 18, they told him the flight would be refunded, and he would have to claim through his insurance provider to be compensated for the hotel portion of the package,” Stewart said.
Skyland disagreed. It said that when Aparaschivei contacted its office on Jan. 17, a representative told him they would re-book the pair on the next available flight at no extra cost or cancel the reservation subject to contract terms and conditions.
Skyland was unable to re-book the two on another carrier due to lack of availability.
And, when Aparaschivei spoke with a Skyland representative the next day, he said he had cancelled the replacement ticket WestJet had issued.
“The representative contacted WestJet to see if there were other options but because of the cancellation, there were none,” Stewart said. “The representative advised Mr. Aparaschivei he would be refunded for the flights, but not the hotel. In addition to his insurance, the representative told him he may be able to make an additional claim for compensation through WestJet.”
Stewart found that the Aparaschiveis choosing a different flight would have risked them arriving in Cancun and discovering their hotel room was no longer available as they would not have checked in on their original arrival date.
The replacement flight email WestJet sent out indicated that if the two had booked with a travel agent and wanted to cancel, they should do so by contacting the travel agent directly.
And, Stewart said, it was undisputed that by the time WestJet sent that email, it was late on Jan. 17, and no one was answering the phone at Skyland’s office.
“I find it was reasonable for the applicants to cancel their replacement flight online and try to sort things out with Skyland the next morning,” Stewart said. “There is no documentary evidence establishing that by cancelling the replacement flight, the applicants were cancelling the whole package.”
Stewart found Skyland fundamentally breached the parties’ contract to arrange a vacation package when it did not provide other flight options.
