Law360 Canada (November 28, 2023, 6:31 AM EST) -- Action by plaintiff for compensation against defendant airline for inconvenience due to cancelled flights. The plaintiff booked air travel with the defendant on February 5, 2020 from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Budapest, Hungary. On February 26, 2020, the defendant notified the plaintiff that his flight from Montreal to Halifax, which was part of his itinerary, was rescheduled. On March 4, 2020, the defendant notified the plaintiff that the rescheduled flight was cancelled and provided the plaintiff with a revised itinerary. The notice from the defendant advised that the itinerary change was due to a “Flight Schedule Change”, not to circumstances beyond its control and offered the plaintiff another booking on the flight from Montreal to Halifax on the same date but with a different time. The plaintiff tried to reach the defendant’s customer relations to seek different alternative travel arrangements but could not get through. On March 11, 2020, the plaintiff cancelled his trip and asked for a refund and received $1,293 from the defendant. On the same date, the plaintiff asked for a $400 compensation from the defendant. On March 14, 2020, the defendant sent an email to the plaintiff denying his request for $400 compensation since the cancellation was made at least 15 days prior to the flight departure. The plaintiff argued that he was entitled to the compensation under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (the Regulations) independent of the fact that he received 176 days’ notice of the change of his itinerary. The defendant countered that the interpretation advanced by the plaintiff would lead to an absurd result whereby a carrier, after refunding the ticket price in the circumstances where a change in a travel itinerary was made more than 14 days before travel, would also be liable to pay compensation....