St. John's mayor wants Air Canada service probe

The mayor of St. John's wants a public inquiry into Air Canada's service in Newfoundland and Labrador, to investigate numerous consumer complaints about the carrier's operations.

Air Canada earned the enmity of city council — as well as provincial politicians, business leaders and travellers — when it decided in 2006 to terminate year-round transatlantic service between St. John's and London.

Andy Wells said a recent spate of complaints — some arising from how Air Canada treated travellers caught in recent storms — is enough reason for Transport Canada to investigate.

"I'm trying to find some way of putting pressure on Air Canada," Wells told Monday evening's regular council meeting.

However, Wells appeared to have caught fellow councillors off-guard. Coun. Shannie Duff said Wells had given no advance word of his desire, nor had he spelled out how he expected such an inquiry to operate and how much it might cost.

Nonetheless, council voted to support Wells, who said the onus was on the federal government to investigate Air Canada's treatment of consumers.

Councillors in particular cited late flights and lost baggage.

Coun. Gerry Colbert believes such a review is long overdue.

"[This] is on the right track," Colbert said. "There are many, many of us who have [had] less than quality delivery of service from Air Canada."

Coun. Art Puddister said the return of a direct, year-round transatlantic connection is vital.

"One of the things I'd certainly like is [for] Air Canada or this inquiry to look at is to see if there's some way that we could say, 'Look, give us just two days a week and Halifax five or give us three and them four,'" said Puddister.

"There should be that option."

Cancellation frustrations

There have been frequent media reports since the pre-Christmas season about problems with Air Canada's service across Newfoundland and Labrador.

Bob Baker, a resident of Conception Bay South, started a Facebook group called "Air Canada Screwed Me," after what he called a traumatic experience during a storm-related flight cancellation. Baker said he and his wife were told on Dec. 17 that the earliest they could be rebooked out of Halifax was Jan. 4.

"It was unacceptable," Baker told CBC News during a recent interview. "My poor wife, to be told that we weren't going to be home with our two little girls — it was just unbearable."

Baker and his wife, Wendy, bought full-fare tickets on WestJet, at a cost of more than $900.

Baker's group, as of Tuesday morning, had 689 members. "Each of those people has a horrendous story to tell," said Baker, who acknowledges that his own plight pales in comparison to what others have experienced.

"It seems like everybody's got an Air Canada story."

Woodrow French, the mayor of neighbouring Conception Bay South, has been lobbying other municipal leaders to support a traveller's bill of rights.