NewLeaf should be on the hook for passenger costs, says advocate

A passenger rights advocate says a new discount carrier should be on the hook for a lot more than ticket refunds to its Alberta customers.

NewLeaf, which is headquartered in Winnipeg,announced Tuesday it iscancelling flights from Calgary and Edmonton to Mesa, Ariz., because it got nudged out of the market by WestJet.

The company simultaneously announced that it will no longer fly from Hamilton to Melbourne, Fla..

Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs saidthe Canadian Transportation Agency'snotice to carriers outlines the reasonable standard of practice.

• NewLeaf cancels 'sun' service from Hamilton, refunds 3,000 tickets
• NewLeaf cancels flights to Phoenix, blaming WestJet for muscling in on route

The notice saysif a flight is cancelled for reasons within an airline's control, it must rebook passengers on another flight, if not on its airline, then another at the company's expense

Lukacs saidthat's not what NewLeaf has done.

"It appears they are skirting their obligation to the public. This is a very very troublesome attitude."

NewLeafwill onlyrefundthe prices of the tickets tocustomers, but Lukacs saidcustomers should fight thatwith either NewLeafor the company that owns the planes, Flair Air.

In an email, the CTA said the company doesn't fall under its jurisdiction.

"In Decision No. 100-A-2016, the Canadian Transportation Agency found that NewLeaf Travel Company Inc., as a reseller, will not be considered to operate an air service and will not be required to hold a licence as long as it does not hold itself out to the public as an air carrier operating an air service," the agency told CBC News in an email.

"As NewLeaf is not a licensee, it is not regulated by the Canadian Transportation Agency."

Calgary-based airline analyst Rick Erickson sayssmaller companies don't have the kind of money needed to pay out double or triple the original ticket price to rebook thousands of customers.

"That's one of the risks you take when you go with a new startupversus one of the very well established majors," said Erickson.

"You can't be selling a $150 ticket to Phoenix, one way, and begin to think you can put that passenger on another carrier. Say a U.S. carrier going over Denver, the ticket is going to be $450, and NewLeafjust can't handle those costs."

NewLeaf says it may start offering flights to Mesa again in the future.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Calgary-based Canada Boy Vinyl closing its doors
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Calgary's new bishop 'not afraid' to speak out but vows to respect dissenters' 'dignity'