Tougher new rules are due to take effect Sept. 30 but one advocate says the transportation agency could be doing more now to raise the fines for airline violations.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The backlog of air passenger complaints at Canada’s transport regulator has hit a new high, topping 57,000, as dissatisfaction over cancellations and compensation persist three and a half years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The numbers reveal that an average of more than 3,000 complaints per month have piled up at the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) over the past year, with the current tally well over three times the total from September 2022.
Vancouver residents Chad Kerychuk and Melissa Oei say they are mulling a complaint after they arrived in Halifax six hours later than planned on a flight from their hometown in August 2021 and found themselves separated on board despite buying pricier tickets to select side-by-side spots in advance.
In June, the government passed legislation to overhaul Canada’s passenger rights charter, laying out measures to toughen penalties and tighten loopholes around traveller compensation as well as streamline the complaints process.
“There will be no more loopholes where airlines can claim a disruption is caused by something outside of their control for a security reason when it’s not,” Omar Alghabra, the transport minister at the time, told reporters in April.
The amendments to the passenger rights charter allow the regulator to ratchet up the maximum penalty for airline violations to $250,000 — a tenfold increase — and put the regulatory cost of complaints on carriers.
The original article contains 669 words, the summary contains 227 words. Saved 66%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Nearly every time myself or a family member has flown in recent years has been a frustrating, expensive, miserable experience. Huge delays, entire cancellations right before boarding, bags taking hours to be dropped, cramped and awful interiors, and that one time the emergency exit door beside me had an air leak which caused an ear-destroyingly loud squeal sound once we got up high enough.
Legitimately the most unpleasant form of transportation I can think of while also one of the most expensive - at least for domestic flights.
Rather than fines, regulate C-suite penalty packages based on complaints recieved and on time performances.
These penalties are maxed at the same level as the other KPI bonuses.
If it sounds like an overreach of government into the free market, it is. But it’s an overreach that is earned from cyclical bail outs and continued subsidies.
