A Canadian family is outraged after an 18-month-old baby was assigned a seat several rows away from her parents on an Air Canada Rouge flight — and regulators have decided not to penalize the airline.
The incident occurred on January 3, when Greg and Lindsay McLachlan were preparing to fly home from Tampa Bay to Toronto with their two children, three-year-old Peter and 18-month-old Margaret, affectionately called Molly. After a five-hour delay, the family was told at the gate that Molly had been placed on standby, despite having paid in advance to reserve seats together. A check-in agent eventually issued a boarding pass, but Molly was assigned a seat in row 15 — six rows ahead of her father and brother in row 21.
The family was told to resolve the issue once on board. Greg McLachlan walked down the aisle with his daughter in one arm and son in the other, negotiating with fellow passengers to swap seats so that the family could sit together. Flight attendants, citing legal constraints, said they were not allowed to ask passengers to move.
Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR), children under five must be seated adjacent to a parent or guardian at no extra cost. Despite this, Air Canada’s initial response was to refund the family’s pre-paid seat selection fee. Unsatisfied, the McLachlans filed a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), which opened a months-long investigation.
Last week, the CTA informed the family that no enforcement action would be taken. In a statement, the agency said evidence showed the infant was ultimately seated with her family during the flight, and therefore no infraction occurred. This decision has left the family furious.
“The only reason Molly was seated with us is because we and other passengers fixed Air Canada’s mistake,” Greg McLachlan said. “I can’t imagine anything more egregious than putting an 18-month-old child six rows away from her parent.”
Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, called the CTA’s response another example of systemic regulatory failure. “This simply proves what I’ve been saying for the last eight-plus years — we don’t have meaningful enforcement in Canada. We have a lapdog instead of a watchdog,” he said.
Air Canada stated that it respects the CTA’s decision and has since reinforced its seating policies through improved technology and staff training. The airline later offered travel vouchers, which the family declined.
“I’m not looking for money,” McLachlan said. “You did something wrong. Own up to it.”