Its Canadas law NOT Air Canada's policy. They have no option but to enforce it.
Canadian told he can't board flight home from Jamaica because of rule he didn't know
- Thread starter canada-man
- Start date
I have to agree with this . Having to carry extra medication can be a pain but you never know what can happen . These 2 screwed up . They were leaving Canada and wanting to return to Canada . Then why not use the Canadian passport ?
They must be feeling very special having dual citizenship . Looks like it didn't work out for them this time . Maybe Canada is saying make up your mind which country you wish to be a citizen of . This time not using the Canadian passport was a bad choice .
The airline is not the one that determines that. Canada Customs gives them rules to follow and the airline followed them.
It would be a totally different story if the guy was rejected by a customs agent.
Yes, because 96 year olds who are dual citizens that have never had to do this in past, are the type of people who suddenly without reason change their travel habits and carry two passports.....
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It's 100% the traveler's responsibility to make sure they are carrying their essentials: medication, documents, insurance, tickets, etc. It's not the government's, airline's, travel agent's, nor anyone else's responsibility to keep you up to date about the rules.
Okay....but as a courtesy you think they the travel agency your spending a lot of money with, with go over this stuff with you. You think 96 year old men that have never had to do this in their life randomly look up travel changes on government websites???
You're grasping to hold onto your opinion, and are making things up to do so. What makes you think they used a travel agent?
Most likely his daughter booked the tickets online and did not read the travel documents required etc. Likely just assumed everything stays the same forever.
Not "making" anything up and not "grasping" for anything. I'm telling you I'm of the opinion that travel agents and airlines need to take a more proactive approach when it comes to informing their customers about regulations, especially when people are spending thousands of dollars, as opposed to this buy or beware mentality your obviously in favor of. There are tons of people (especially elderly) that wouldn't think to check on a government website to see if travel regulations have changed and to simply say "traveler's fault. His/her responsibility to make sure they have proper documents" is kind of bull shit IMO.
And if he had his passport to prove he was Canadian, he would have been let in. His only documentation was as a Brit.
Assuming he dealt with an in-person travel agency (not online) they would have only asked if he has the proper documents. They're not going to ask about every scenario like if he's a dual-citizen, permanent resident status, etc. The man has to be up-front with that information or the agency cannot advise him. Even if the agency told him about Canadian immigration changes, then he still should have verified that independently either online, by phone, etc. If you're spending thousands of dollars then wouldn't you want to double check?
Besides, the man has traveled many times before and would have experienced many security changes over that time: what can be brought on-board, when to arrive at the airport, ID requirements, etc. He would have also experienced delayed flights so he should know to bring extra medication just in case.
Even if they went to such lengths to make sure customers understand the rules, they can't be sure that customers follow through. They can't pack their bags make sure they bring the correct ID, medication, etc. to the airport.
I know, but I'm just saying, you think when you booking either on-line or in person, you get a notification saying something like "travel regulations constantly change, so make sure you check with the government website about what you need before traveling". Would surprise me if there is something like that, but it's probably in fine print. Like that shit should be front and centre on your receipt weather it's electronic or paper.
He didn't have a Canadian passport for fuck sakes. :doh: He had a British Passport, (and possibly a Canadian Citizen card) which worked for him in the past and now doesn't work due small change they made when processing people when they get to customs.
I don't know the exact details included in a travel contract, but they would have to be there by law regardless if you bought the tickets online or in person. Assuming you bought them through a registered agent of course.
Putting important information like travel regulations "front and center" is irrelevant because the customer still has to take the correct actions. Again, the man supposedly has traveled many times before so he has no excuse for not knowing that regulations change.
It would be nice, sure, but that doesn't mean the onus is on them. The onus is on the people traveling period.
We all wish we lived in a nicey nicey world were everyone helps each other but that is just not reality.
Guys....holy fuck.....I know the onus is on the traveler, and blah blah blah. What I'm saying is, many people don't realize or understand some of the complications when traveling, and it's not like they're losing 20 bucks at a movie theater. The fact this guy can board an Air Canada flight to get to Jamaica and but then couldn't return is ridiculous. I'm simply saying, travel agents and air-lines do a piss poor job at informing people about "need to knows" when traveling, and I'm of the opinion they should do more...lol. You think this story would have made the news if everyone thought the process was pretty straight forward??? It's not, and that's why this story made the news, and it's why I'm sympathetic to people and saying, air-lines and travel agents need to be more proactive to help people understand what's required when they spend 2000.00 or more on a plane ticket with them.
Again, there's a pretty sad mentality in this thread right now of "his fault". Yes, there was rule change a few years back and if you go on the govern't website it tells you that (but does a bad job of explaining why). Anyway, I'm sure there are situations similar to this that happen. All I'm saying, at better job could be done educating people. They don't even have to be the ones that do it, but can do a better job of telling people they really need to go here https://travel.gc.ca/air before traveling.
They're in the customer service industry. I used to manage a retail store and sold some items that could be as high a thousand dollars. Any items we carried between $500.00 to $1000.00 came with certain warranties and had important info about them. I made sure all my staff informed customers about this as they were spending a lot of money. No different here.
We have all kinds of rules and regulations in place to protect consumers in this countr. Cigarette companies have to put warning labels on their packages, but a 96 year old man can fly out of the country, not get back, loosing a ton of money and we say "should have went on government website, his fault" is fucking ridiculous.
Again, there's a pretty sad mentality in this thread right now of "his fault". Yes, there was rule change a few years back and if you go on the govern't website it tells you that (but does a bad job of explaining why). Anyway, I'm sure there are situations similar to this that happen. All I'm saying, at better job could be done educating people. They don't even have to be the ones that do it, but can do a better job of telling people they really need to go here https://travel.gc.ca/air before traveling.
They're in the customer service industry. I used to manage a retail store and sold some items that could be as high a thousand dollars. Any items we carried between $500.00 to $1000.00 came with certain warranties and had important info about them. I made sure all my staff informed customers about this as they were spending a lot of money. No different here.
We have all kinds of rules and regulations in place to protect consumers in this countr. Cigarette companies have to put warning labels on their packages, but a 96 year old man can fly out of the country, not get back, loosing a ton of money and we say "should have went on government website, his fault" is fucking ridiculous.
