2 passengers traveling from Canada to Egypt sued Air Canada for a 56-hour flight delay and won $740 each in compensation

• Two passengers won a lawsuit against Air Canada for a 56-hour delay in their three-leg flight.
• They were traveling from Canada to Cairo, Egypt with three other family members.

Two passengers from Kelowna, Canada, won a lawsuit against Air Canada for an international flight delay that set them back by 56 hours.

Passengers Abdallah Mohamed and Ghada Ali were awarded 1,000 Canadian dollars, or $740, each in compensation and 155.48 Canadian dollars in interest and fees collectively after the British Columbia civil resolution tribunal found Air Canada could not prove that the primary reason for the delay was out of the carrier's control, according to an August 8 filing.

Mohamed and Ali were traveling from Kelowna city in Canada to Cairo, Egypt, with three other family members on July 4, 2022. The international flight consisted of three legs: Kelowna to Vancouver, Vancouver to London, England, and London to Cairo. It is not immediately clear how the two passengers are related.

The group's first flight departed Kelowna two hours and nine minutes late on July 4 and they missed their second flight out of Vancouver. Air Canada then rebooked the group on a revised itinerary with a departing flight out of Vancouver on July 6 — leading to their very late arrival in Cairo.

The dispute was whether the flight's delay was due to staffing issues within Air Canada's control — as claimed by the passengers — or by circumstances outside the carrier's control.

Air Canada claimed the flight delay was due to "air traffic control restraints" and a ground delay program — a procedure used for air traffic control — operated by Nav Canada, which oversees the country's air traffic controllers.

Shelley Lopez, the vice chair of small claims at British Columbia's civil resolution tribunal, found Air Canada did not address the plaintiff's arguments that another flight departed Kelowna on time despite the ground delay program.

"I find the onus is on Air Canada to show the primary cause of the delay that impacted the applicants' ability to make their connecting flight AC862 was outside their control, and I find it has failed to do so," ruled Lopez, referring to the flight out of Canada.

Mohamed and Ali were seeking 5,000 Canadian dollars in compensation — 1,000 Canadian dollars each for their five traveling family members.

However, Lopez found the two passengers could not seek compensation on behalf of their three companions and dismissed the rest of the claim.

Air Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, sent outside regular business hours.