An Air Transat passenger said he was forced to pay $5,000 out of pocket because he was “utterly abandoned” by the airline after he fainted and was denied taking a flight home to Toronto.
Shaun Mehta said he began to feel unwell as he was boarding a flight in Barcelona set for Toronto on July 10.
“The final passengers were still being boarded when I was overcome by dizziness and nausea. I passed out in my seat,” Mehta told CTV News Toronto.
Flight attendants, along with a passenger who was a doctor, surrounded Mehta and gave him oxygen, which he said significantly helped.
Spanish paramedics then came onboard and tested his vitals, which Mehta said he passed and was cleared to fly. He speculated the episode was related to vertigo from leaving the cruise ship he spent his vacation on.
In Mehta’s medical report, obtained by CTV News Toronto, paramedics checked off “normal” for his breathing and “voluntary discharge” in their conclusion, describing his symptoms as “moderate.”
“I just wanted to get home at that point,” he said.
But then, a flight attendant approached him and said the pilot was uncomfortable flying with him onboard.
“They said if you don’t leave we will escort you off the plane,” Mehta said.
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Air Transat said that information regarding the passenger’s symptoms was transferred to MedAire, a company that specializes in medical and travel support.
“After analyzing the situation and discussing with the captain, MedAire deemed the passenger should indeed not travel. The paramedics arrived shortly thereafter and took over the patient’s care,” Air Transat spokesperson Marie-Christine Pouliot said.
“Passengers who are denied boarding for medical reasons must contact their travel insurance provider to cover any accommodation or travel costs.”
While Mehta was eager to get home, he said the Air Transat crew members assured him that he would be taken care of. He kissed his 12-year-old daughter goodbye, left her with her grandparents, and exited the plane with his wife.
“I expected an Air Transat representative to find us another flight, re-assess me medically, and take care of our food and accommodations needs, if necessary,” Mehta said.
“None of this happened.”
Instead, they were escorted to a taxi stand by an airport employee, which confused Mehta and his wife. They had nowhere to go.
After expressing this to the escort, they were taken to a kiosk with various airline logos. There, they were handed a card with an Air Transat phone number for their headquarters in Montreal.
“It’s Sunday morning in Montreal, no one is going to answer,” he said. As they expected, they were unable to reach anyone.
“We had been utterly abandoned by Air Transat,” he said.
Desperate after hours of hitting a wall, they said they called their travel agent. The next Air Transat flight to Toronto wasn’t for days, so she booked them on an Air Canada flight the following morning along with a hotel for the night. The total cost of the last-minute purchases was $5,000.
Since then, Mehta says he has received no communication from the airline.
According to the Air Transat website, if a passenger is denied boarding for reasons within the airline’s control, including those for safety purposes, Air Transat will offer food and drink, access to means of communication, hotel accommodation and ground transportation free of charge.
“The moment I was removed from the flight, I didn’t seem to exist or matter to Air Transat. I have never felt so insignificant.”
CALGARY – TC Energy Corp. has lowered the estimated cost of its Southeast Gateway pipeline project in Mexico.
It says it now expects the project to cost between US$3.9 billion and US$4.1 billion compared with its original estimate of US$4.5 billion.
The change came as the company reported a third-quarter profit attributable to common shareholders of C$1.46 billion or $1.40 per share compared with a loss of C$197 million or 19 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totalled C$4.08 billion, up from C$3.94 billion in the third quarter of 2023.
TC Energy says its comparable earnings for its latest quarter amounted to C$1.03 per share compared with C$1.00 per share a year earlier.
The average analyst estimate had been for a profit of 95 cents per share, according to LSEG Data & Analytics.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
BCE Inc. reported a loss in its latest quarter as it recorded $2.11 billion in asset impairment charges, mainly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties.
The company says its net loss attributable to common shareholders amounted to $1.24 billion or $1.36 per share for the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with a profit of $640 million or 70 cents per share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, BCE says it earned 75 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 81 cents per share in the same quarter last year.
“Bell’s results for the third quarter demonstrate that we are disciplined in our pursuit of profitable growth in an intensely competitive environment,” BCE chief executive Mirko Bibic said in a statement.
“Our focus this quarter, and throughout 2024, has been to attract higher-margin subscribers and reduce costs to help offset short-term revenue impacts from sustained competitive pricing pressures, slow economic growth and a media advertising market that is in transition.”
Operating revenue for the quarter totalled $5.97 billion, down from $6.08 billion in its third quarter of 2023.
BCE also said it now expects its revenue for 2024 to fall about 1.5 per cent compared with earlier guidance for an increase of zero to four per cent.
The company says the change comes as it faces lower-than-anticipated wireless product revenue and sustained pressure on wireless prices.
BCE added 33,111 net postpaid mobile phone subscribers, down 76.8 per cent from the same period last year, which was the company’s second-best performance on the metric since 2010.
It says the drop was driven by higher customer churn — a measure of subscribers who cancelled their service — amid greater competitive activity and promotional offer intensity. BCE’s monthly churn rate for the category was 1.28 per cent, up from 1.1 per cent during its previous third quarter.
The company also saw 11.6 per cent fewer gross subscriber activations “due to more targeted promotional offers and mobile device discounting compared to last year.”
Bell’s wireless mobile phone average revenue per user was $58.26, down 3.4 per cent from $60.28 in the third quarter of the prior year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. trimmed its financial guidance as it reported its second-quarter revenue fell compared with a year ago.
The luxury clothing company says revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 29 totalled $267.8 million, down from $281.1 million in the same quarter last year.
Net income attributable to shareholders amounted to $5.4 million or six cents per diluted share, up from $3.9 million or four cents per diluted share a year earlier.
On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned five cents per diluted share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 16 cents per diluted share a year earlier.
In its outlook, Canada Goose says it now expects total revenue for its full financial year to show a low-single-digit percentage decrease to low-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a low-single-digit increase.
It also says it now expects its adjusted net income per diluted share to show a mid-single-digit percentage increase compared with earlier guidance for a percentage increase in the mid-teens.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
