A B.C. couple was warned by WestJet's lawyers after posting about their compensation dispute on social media, highlighting a concerning trend of airlines attempting to silence travellers.
When a B.C. couple took their fight for compensation over a cancelled WestJet flight to social media, they received a letter from the airline's lawyers warning them that their post had breached confidentiality. Efforts to silence travellers from speaking publicly about disputes with airlines are a worrying trend, say industry and legal experts. Anna Gurney of Victoria, B.C., says she felt ‘bullied’ and ‘frightened’ during a dispute over compensation from WestJet following a cancelled flight.
Anna and Russell Gurney knew something was wrong when their phones pinged in the middle of the night with a message from WestJet, hours before the Victoria couple was supposed to begin a trip to San Diego to catch a cruise. The airline's message told them that due to a crew shortage, their December 2022 flight had been cancelled and they'd been rebooked on a new flight 48 hours later. Unwilling to miss their cruise, they had no choice but to accept a refund from WestJet and book last-minute tickets on another carrier — for $1,500 more. But WestJet's lawyers discovered their post there and told them that because they'd shared 'privileged and confidential' correspondence, the airline would no longer be negotiating with them. Gábor Lukács, founder of the Facebook group where Anna Gurney posted some of the specifics of their dispute, said, 'When I see educated people — lawyers — trying to do this to a member of the public, it raises significant ethical concerns.' The insistence by airlines to keep dispute details confidential — coupled with new rules surrounding complaints filed with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) — have created a veil of secrecy around disagreements with passengers, said Lukác
AIRLINES CONSUMER RIGHTS DISPUTES WESTJET SOCIAL MEDIA
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