Second North American Airline Refuses to Compensate Passenger For Laptop Ruined By Flight Attendant Dumping a Drink On It

Air Canada has become the latest North American airline to refuse to accept liability for a flight attendant ruining a passenger’s laptop after they accidentally dumped a drink on the computer while serving the victim’s seatmate.

Although the flight attendant wrote a report about the incident and encouraged the passenger to submit a claim for the damage on Air Canada’s website, the Montreal-based carrier kept delaying a response for nearly a year.

After multiple attempts to chase the airline up, Air Canada eventually replied to the passenger’s claim, but the answer probably wasn’t what the customer hoped for.

“While we do sympathize with your situation, we are unfortunately unable to consider your claim,” the email reply explained. “All air travel is governed by Tariff regulations and these regulations preclude liability for cabin baggage or other items that are considered in the passenger’s own care and control.”

Interestingly, Air Canada’s current tariff regulations suggest that it very much should accept liability if the damage was the result of its own negligence.

The airline, however, insists that it won’t accept liability for damage caused to electronic equipment such as laptop computers, as well as jewelry, artworks, business documents, and other valuables, no matter the circumstances of how they came to be damaged.

“With regret, we are unable to offer any compensation for such small claims,” the email continued.

The response from Air Canada comes just days after a JetBlue passenger shared his experience when a flight attendant accidentally dropped a cup of iced coffee all over him and his laptop.

At the time, the flight attendant apologized and offered him a $25 voucher and a free cheese plate as a way of apology, but when the passenger got home, he realized that the damage was far more serious than he first thought.

With his laptop no longer working, the passenger reached out to JetBlue to seek compensation but was surprised to learn that the airline would refuse to accept liability for the damage and that no further compensation would be forthcoming.

In the latest case, some commentators have suggested that Canada’s small claims courts could come to the rescue, although there is no guarantee that a judge would rule in favor of the passenger.

Ultimately, passengers need to ensure they have some form of insurance policy to cover this type of accidental damage – whether it be through a credit card, travel insurance, or device-specific insurance like Apple Care.

Unfortunately, even the best insurance policy is probably going to require an excess to be paid, leaving passengers out of pocket for damage that wasn’t of their own doing.