A Victoria-based couple is alleging discriminatory treatment from Porter Airlines staff after being barred entry to their flight to Toronto on a last minute trip for a funeral.
Dawson and Skyler Leduc say they believe they were not allowed to check into their flight because they are both heavily tattooed, and/or because Skyler is Indigenous.
The situation began with Skyler’s mother purchasing roundtrip tickets for the couple for $824.75.
When Dawson and Skyler arrived at the airport, ready to check in, board and fly to Toronto for Skyler’s grandfather’s funeral, the customer service representative told them there was a “security lock” on their tickets and she was unable to check them in.
“I started laughing because I sort of thought she was joking, I asked ‘what does that entail, what does that mean?’” Dawson told Victoria Buzz.
“The man next to her, just looked down at his keyboard and said, ‘just tell them you can’t check them in, that’s all you need to say.’”
She added that no one was making eye contact with them, no attempt was made to help explain to them why the security lock had been placed on their tickets and when asked questions, the service agents were not responding to them.
“At this point I started to get pissed off,” said Dawson.
After repeatedly trying to get some answers, the Leducs asked if they could simply buy new tickets, as they felt they had to get on the plane.
The customer service agent they were dealing with told them it was too close to the flight’s boarding time and that she couldn’t actually sell tickets at the check in desk. However, she thought that this situation might be mitigated if she tried processing their payment again.
“She said, ‘it has to be debit,’ and I thought that’s a weird specification,” Dawson explained.
“Put in my pin, I have my physical card, I’m buying two new [roundtrip] tickets, don’t know what they are, haven’t seen any ticket proof—nothing. Purchase approved and the receipt came out for the same amount.”
Dawson at this point had spent another $824.75, totalling $1,649.50 spent on Porter flights.
Despite paying again with her own card, they were told nothing changed in the Porter agent’s system and they were still unable to be checked in.
“My husband steps in at this point and says ‘what are you talking about,’ like about to shake this woman,” said Dawson.
“They were on the Porter helpline, trying to get answers, but not really saying anything and using a lot of airport jargon in their conversation.”
After a confrontational conversation, the two agents they had been talking to left the check in desk to begin boarding procedures.
Dawson and Skyler then spoke with a supervisor who echoed that they would not be able to check in or board the flight due to the security lock on their tickets.
“So my husband grabs all of our bags, and at this point starts cussing everybody out, walks over to Air Canada and says ‘hey, did you guys see what’s going on, here’s our situation, we need to be on a plane to Toronto tonight,’” said Dawson.
“Air Canada takes our money, gives us two tickets and we’re on a plane within the hour.”
The one-way Air Canada flights cost them $1,212, which adds up to $2,861.50 total.
Dawson says that the indications which lead her to believe they were given discriminatory treatment by the customer service agents are: the lack of eye contact, or that they could have just explained the situation clearly.
“They had my physical card with my name on it and the ‘security concern’ did not go away, so that tells me that this was not any sort of operational discrepancy, this is the sole decision of a representative for Porter Airlines making a choice to not let my husband and I board a plane for an unknown reason,” Dawson explained.
Once in Toronto, Dawson said they tried calling, they tried emailing, their family members tried to contact Porter, but they were still told the same thing and no clear explanation was given for why they could not board the plane.
Dawson told Victoria Buzz that they had even been told by a Porter higher-up that their system showed the couple as “no-shows” at the airport, meaning no one took note of the situation for the airline’s records.
Porter Airlines’ explanation
After speaking with Dawson about the matter, Victoria Buzz reached out to Porter Airlines and they replied promptly with an explanation for what had happened.
“The security consideration in this case related to the method of payment, given that neither passenger name matched the credit card used for purchasing the tickets,” said Brad, a media spokesperson for Porter Airlines.
“The terms of purchase may require the card used to be presented at the airport as one means of mitigating fraud. No other factors were at play.”
Despite this claim, Dawson says she was never asked to show the card at the check in desk.
Brad added that the repurchasing of the tickets at the desk may not have worked because of the short timeline, and issues with validating the payment, but Dawson claims she saw no evidence of this in her interaction with the customer service agents.
“Our customer relations team has since been in contact with Skylar and Dawson to resolve the issue, including refunding their Porter purchase, compensating for the amount of the tickets on another carrier, and providing additional credits for future Porter flights,” said Brad.
Contrary to what Brad said, Victoria Buzz followed up with Dawson and Skyler, who said that they have still not been refunded for any tickets, and had been given flight vouchers, which the couple don’t plan on using.
Dawson told Victoria Buzz that she doesn’t truly care about the money lost; she wants an apology and for Porter to establish a policy regarding mitigation of discriminatory practices.
