N.L. couple say they were left stranded after Air Canada cancelled tickets home
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — A Newfoundland couple’s story of being stranded at an airport in Portugal after Air Canada suddenly suspended their tickets home has emerged as the latest chapter in the spiralling public relations crisis facing airlines.
As legislation to create a new passenger bill of rights was introduced in Ottawa on Tuesday, Randell Earle described arriving at the Lisbon airport with his wife, Claudia, for their return flight to St. John’s in late March.
“When we arrived they said ‘Sorry, Air Canada has suspended your ticket,’” he said in an interview from his home in Topsail, a community in Conception Bay South. “They told us to go to the customer service desk, but then we were told we needed to call Air Canada directly.”
While frantically feeding euros into a pay phone, Earle said he “went round the mulberry bush three times” between Air Canada on the phone and airport agents until the couple missed their Air Canada Star Alliance flight, operated by Portuguese airline TAP Portugal.