Making sure everyone suffers a uniform level of misery

Leave it up to left-wing consumer advocacy groups to ensure that everyone in Canada is equally miserable. The most recent example of this is the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), which is complaining to the Canadian Transportation Agency that Air Canada’s ‘On My Way’ program is discriminatory.

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Here’s how the program works: Air Canada charges an extra $25-$35, depending on the length of your flight, which buys you a kind of insurance policy that makes unforeseen problems that are beyond Air Canada’s control slightly more bearable. For instance, if you have a delay due to bad weather or heavy air traffic, users of the ‘On My Way’ program will receive instant message updates, complimentary hotel accommodations, meals and automatic bookings for the next available flight. Of course, those who can’t afford the additional cost or decide that the extra charge isn’t worth it, don’t get any special treatment and the PIAC thinks that’s just not fair. Quoted in this weekend’s National Post, Michael Janigan, who is general counsel for the PIAC, feels that in case of flight disruptions all passengers are affected and all passengers must have their needs met equally. “The question is whether you can create another class of passengers who pay for an imperative customer service.” Janigan told the Post’s Sarah Schmidt. Typical of all lib-left organizations, the PIAC wants to make sure that everyone suffers equally and is attempting to forestall “the rich” from buying a level of comfort and peace of mind not available to passengers who don’t pay for it. While Air Canada is charged with ensuring that all its passengers arrive at their destination in one piece and as quickly as possible, it being a publicly traded company, also has an obligation to its shareholders to ensure that it turns a profit. Ensuring that all its passengers are equally miserable in case of unforeseen circumstances will do nothing to boost the airline’s bottom line. The ‘On My Way’ program is an innovative and presumably profitable method to ensure that business travelers and others wishing to pay for peace of mind can do so. The PIAC’s position with respect to this program is totally unrealistic as well as unreasonable, as infringes on the airline’s ability to enhance customer service while enhancing the shareholders’ value. Using the argument that the “On My Way” program as offered by Air Canada is “unfair”; it is then possible to indict all insurance policies under the same terms. Home insurance, business insurance and life insurance are generally purchased only by those who are able to pay the premiums. Should insurance companies now offer free insurance to everyone because some people can’t afford it? What about the price of a ticket? Maybe the PIAC thinks ticket prices should be indexed to income and in the case of destitute people wishing to travel, the price of the ticket should be free. Wouldn’t first class or business class seating also fall under the category of unfairness? After all, everyone on an aircraft has a seat. Why allow “the rich” to pay more for seats that are comfortable? It is thinking like that displayed by the PIAC that has created the healthcare nightmare that many Canadians are currently experiencing. To make any form of private healthcare illegal is to ensure that all of us suffer an equal degree of misery, even if the ability to buy private healthcare were to result in shorter waits for those who can’t afford it. Frankly, I welcome any increase in the price of air travel, if only to discourage some of the riff raff that finds their way onto airplanes these days. Whereas air travel was once an exotic and elegant endeavor, it has become the travel choice of the ill mannered, whose sense of entitlement exceeds their value to society. If escalating prices keeps the bumpkins off airplanes, then let’s have more fare increases.