Airline On The Hook For Spoiled Seafood

Brian Vu's suitcase was a veritable smorgasbord of seafood when he boarded a flight operated by Canadian ultra-low-cost Flair Airlines. 

 

That's when things turned rotten. Even though passengers are prohibited from putting perishables in their luggage, Vu had stuffed crab meat, fish cakes, sea cucumbers, and even dandelion root in one case. He estimated their total value to be $522.

 

Unfortunately, the airline lost his baggage. When the bag was finally located five days later, the seafood had unsurprisingly gone bad. Vu filed a suit in small claims court. 

 

Sounds fishy but in a decision released last week, a member of British Columbia's Civil Resolution Tribunal, Peter Mennie ruled in Vu's favor, saying it wasn't the contents of the bag that mattered as much as the fact a Flair employee agreed to check the luggage in the first place.

 

According to the ruling, Vu flew from British Columbia to Ontario in November 2022 – paying $72.45 to pack each of his two bags. One showed up on the other end of his voyage, but the other went missing.

 

Flair had argued that their contract with passengers specifically prohibits perishable items in checked bags, therefore, the airline cannot be held liable for any spoilage. 

 

But Vu countered that regulations upheld by the Canadian Transportation Agency and federal law entitled him to compensation for checked bags lost for less than 21 days. Mennie agreed, finding that the law doesn't allow an airline to use a contract to get out of liability for bags frontline staff agree to put on an airplane – no matter how fishy the contents.

 

Manchester United cast aside Liverpool 4-3 in an FA Cup quarter-final yesterday to deny Jürgen Klopp's side their quadruple bid.

 

In fact, the Reds led twice at Old Trafford before eventually falling to defeat in disappointing circumstances at the end of extra time.

 

The Reds came into the game 17 points ahead of their bitter rivals in the Premier League table, and yet completely failed to underline the gulf between their sides with their performance. Simply put, they lost because they failed to take their chances. They got what they deserved!