Canadians are being prompted to think twice before they book a ticket with a bargain airline.
“Canadians have recently been forced to deal with arbitrary cancellations and alterations to flight dates and times on thousands of tickets purchased from NewLeaf Travel Company Inc. on flights operated by Flair Airlines Inc,” reads a statement from the Consumer Association of Canada.
“It is extremely important that prospective buyers of NewLeaf tickets have an alternative plan to reach their chosen destinations and return home on time.”
The association goes on to say that buyers of NewLeaf tickets should be asking themselves the question “Does the saving of buying cheap tickets warrant the risk of being stranded?”
NewLeaf was offering direct flights through Flair Airlines from Winnipeg to Kelowna, but decided to end those flights after WestJet started matching the service.
WestJet will provide four flights per week from Kelowna to Winnipeg from May to September.
While NewLeaf does refund tickets that are cancelled due to route changes, they don’t follow the Canadian Transport Agency’s directive to rebook a passenger on alternate transportation to the passenger’s intended destination, at no additional cost to the passenger and within a reasonable time, using its own service; the services of carriers with which it has an interline agreement; or where possible and necessary, the services of carriers where no interline agreement exists.
