OTTAWA, Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The Canadian Transportation Agency has ruled in favor of mathematician and passenger rights activist Gabor Lukacs in his battle with two airlines.
The agency ruled Thursday Air Canada must increase its compensation to passengers who are bumped from flights, The (Montreal) Gazette reported. It said Porter Airlines must revise a portion of its contract that allows it to change flight provisions at will.
Lukacs, now based in Halifax, is a Hungarian immigrant and frequent litigant.
"It's a very special day," he told The Gazette. "In one day, in two separate decisions, the agency agreed with me on every single issue."
Air Canada, the country's largest airline, had been paying some passengers who were bumped from flights $100 ($95 U.S.). CATA ruled in favor of Lukacs' proposal, which would pay $200 ($190 U.S.) to bumped passengers delayed less than two hours, twice that for delays of two to six hours and four times that for longer delays.
The agency said Porter, a regional airline based in Toronto, can no longer have a contract provision that effectively allows it to decide compensation for bumping or delayed flights case by case.
Last week, the agency ruled -- in another case brought by Lukacs -- that Air Transat in Montreal must compensate passengers for delays.
