97% of Air Passenger Complaint Outcomes Go Untracked by Transport Regulator: Report

Travellers wait on hold as they try and speak with their respective airlines at Toronto Pearson International Airport, as a major winter storm disrupts flights in and out of the airport on Dec. 24, 2022. The Canadian Press/Cole Burston

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) doesn’t keep track of 97 percent of passenger complaint outcomes filed against airline companies, but instead uses “informal” resolution techniques for nearly almost all complaints, according to a report.

“We have no way of compelling airlines or passengers to tell us if they’ve settled a dispute between themselves without us,” said CTA’s director general of its analysis and outreach branch, according to the Globe and Mail.

The CTA makes decisions on federally regulated modes of transportation and also mediates complaint claims filed by passengers against airlines. The agency can also order airlines to compensate passengers with up to $1,000 each for extended travel delays or outright flight cancellations.

Before passengers can file claims against airlines with the CTA, they must first try to resolve their complaints directly with the airline and then wait at least 30 days for a reply.

The federal agency’s chair and CEO, France Pégeot, told a Parliamentary committee last month that the CTA resolves complaints “through both informal and formal processes.”

“Our experience has been that about 97 percent of our complaints are resolved informally through our facilitation process, which takes an average of 20 business days to close once an agency facilitator begins the process,” Pégeot told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport on Jan. 12.

Pégeot added later in her testimony that the CTA does “not necessarily know” the outcomes of complaints resolved informally.

“Sometimes they are resolved between the industry and the consumers. Sometimes, of course, we play a facilitator role, but we do not keep track of that,” she said.

Three Percent Tracked

Pégeot noted that the agency does track the outcomes of the three percent of complaints that go through formal adjudication with the CTA’s administrative tribunal, the details of which she said the CTA would provide to the Commons transport committee.

Bloc Québécois MP Julie Vignola said during the committee meeting that there were over 30,000 unresolved complaints pending with the CTA as of Dec. 20, 2022.

“What is causing this backlog and how can this be resolved?” Vignola asked.

Pégeot said the CTA has implemented a program to improve complaint-resolution efficiency and is on track to handle 2,500 more complaints this year than it did in 2022.

“It would be good to have a clearer understanding of what passengers are entitled to,” she said. “At the moment we have to navigate through different grey areas.”

Pégeot also said the agency expects a “significant number of complaints” to be filed with the CTA this month because of major air travel delays and cancellations over the 2022 holiday season.

Andrew Chen contributed to this report.