Beware of basic airfare: Vancouver dad out thousands after daughter breaks leg, can't travel

A Vancouver father is pleading with Air Canada for a compassionate exemption to its strict flight change and cancellation rules, after his young daughter broke her leg, making it impossible to take their long-awaited flights to the U.K. over spring break.

After the pandemic scuttled plans for the trip to London to visit family in 2020, Newell Cotton re-booked the round-trip flights for March 21, buying tickets on Air Canada for himself, his wife and their two kids.

“We were really looking forward to it and really excited about it,” said Cotton. He bought a non-refundable fare, so he also got a quote for trip cancellation insurance.

“It was sitting in my inbox and we were literally going to call on Monday and get that done,” he said.

But that weekend, Cotton’s seven-year-old daughter Gemma broke her leg skiing. She’s now in a cast that stretches from her hip to her ankle, immobilizing her right leg. She gets around using a walker or a wheelchair, but would not be able to travel overseas.

“Her leg is straight out, so she wouldn’t fit in a typical airline seat,” said Cotton, who added his daughter also has a can’t-miss appointment with an orthopaedic surgeon in the period they would be away.

So Cotton contacted Air Canada about re-scheduling the flights, only to learn he had booked a non-refundable and non-changeable airfare.

Air Canada began selling basic airfare in 2018. The flights are cheaper, but have zero flexibility. It’s something Cotton, who hasn’t travelled since basic fares were introduced, said he didn’t realize when he bought the tickets.

“I’ve never seen that before. I’ve always heard people say, oh, you just pay a change fee and postpone it, book another date,” he said.

In a statement to CTV News, Air Canada said its website makes it clear that basic fares don’t allow for changes, and that the “terms and conditions are acknowledged by passengers prior to ticket completion.”

Cotton knows he made a mistake, but he’s hoping Air Canada will see the special circumstances of his case and allow him to pay a fee to re-book.

“If they do decide to do nothing for us, I guess we have to live with it and save up more money and book another trip and lose nearly $4,000 in airfares,” he said.

Passenger rights advocate Dr. Gabor Lukacs says he feels for the Cottons, but doesn’t think the airline will make an exception.

“When you deal with large volume, you have to have some rules. It’s very unfortunate individually, but you have to have some sort of uniformity in how you handle millions of passengers,” Lukacs said.

Cotton said he’s learned that lesson the hard way, and has advice for anyone considering booking the cheapest airfare, or putting off buying trip cancellation insurance.

“Read everything before you book. And if you do book the basic, get trip insurance right away. Immediately.”