‘Personal piñata’: Air Transat accused of inflating its prices during Air Canada dispute

Carol Levine is launching a class-action suit against Air Transat after charging her and her husband $6,000 to get home from Spain amid the Air Canada strike.

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Air Transat by passengers who believe the airline took advantage of the Air Canada flight attendant strike to inflate its prices.

The plaintiff, who filed the application on Thursday, says she believes she was wronged when she and her husband found themselves stuck in Barcelona in the middle of the labour dispute in mid-August.

The couple had spent $2,784.62 with Air Canada for two round-trip tickets from Montreal to Barcelona via Rome.

On Aug. 14, after their flight was cancelled, the couple bought two tickets with Air Transat for a departure from Barcelona to Montreal on Aug. 16.

They said they absolutely had to return home as they didn’t have enough medication to extend their stay.

The two one-way tickets from Barcelona to Montreal cost them $5,355.52.

“No reasonable person would pay this amount to travel with Air Transat. The reason Air Transat was able to charge this amount is because the applicant – and the class members in the same situation – were left stranded by the Air Canada labour dispute and had no way to get home, something Air Transat is well aware of and chose to take advantage of by charging excessive prices,” reads the document filed with the Superior Court.

According to the applicants, the quality of Air Canada aircraft is “greatly superior” to Air Transat, which aren’t Wi-Fi-equipped and are said to be less “comfortable.”

“In other words, there is no justification for Air Transat to charge five times more for an Air Transat flight than for an Air Canada flight (for economy class tickets),” the documents state.

Law firms LPC Avocats and Renno Vathilakis Inc. are representing the plaintiffs in this case.

The filing alleges Air Transat used the Air Canada conflict as its “personal piñata” and “[took] advantage of vulnerable passengers as much as possible.”

The airline is also accused of raising its prices during this period, even though its operating costs didn’t go up.

The plaintiff who initiated the proceedings says she believes there could be tens of thousands of passengers affected - anyone who booked a flight with Air Transat since Aug. 14, 2025, and who paid an “inflated or excessive price compared to the prices historically charged by Air Transat for similar routes during the same period.”

Air Transat is requested to pay the plaintiffs an amount to be determined in connection with the class action claim, punitive damages, interest and costs in connection with the potential class action.

In response to a request for comment from Noovo Info, Air Transat said it was aware of the class action, but declined to comment as the matter is before the courts.

LPC Avocats has also filed a request for authorization of a class action against Air Canada over how it handled refunds.

The airline is accused of having “misled the members of the group and provided them with inaccurate information in order to convince them to accept a refund (which was granted in the form of a credit for a future trip), instead of informing them of their legal obligations and rights.”

That filing involves passengers whose travel plans, since Aug. 14, 2025, have been affected by the Air Canada strike and to whom Air Canada has not provided a reservation for the “next available flight” or “alternative travel arrangements” in accordance with the law.