Airlines cannot deny passengers compensation for poor service in situations they “knew about, or should have known about,” says a federal transport regulator in changes proposed under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR).
“Overall, the proposed changes would require airlines to provide passengers with compensation for every flight disruption that results in the passenger arriving at their destination more than three hours after their scheduled arrival, or delays at departure of over three hours which result in the passenger deciding not to travel,” said the paper.
Burden of Proof
The regulator added it is putting the burden upon airlines to prove any flight disruption or delay is indeed an exceptional situation.Under the proposed changes to the APPR, circumstances that would not be considered exceptional include “any situation the airline knew about, or should have known about, when it sold the ticket to the passenger,” the agency wrote.
Flight crew or cabin crew unavailability, staff shortages at the airline, and technical problems that are an inherent part of normal airline operations were also items mentioned in the list. And “any action, or failure to act, by the airline or others with which the airline has a contractual relationship” would also not be considered exceptional.
For exceptional circumstances, the event that caused the disruption “must have been outside the airline’s control, and not inherent to the normal exercise of the activities of the airline,” the CTA said of the criteria currently under consideration for determining such cases.
Other criteria being considered is whether “the event could not be avoided even if the airline took all reasonable measures to do so.”
‘Cannot Do It Alone’
CTA’s consultation paper came shortly after cabinet’s omnibus budget Bill C-47 received royal assent on June 22.“The changes don’t improve airport infrastructure; they don’t hold other air travel entities to any sort of accountability standard; and they don’t lower the cost of air travel. In fact, Bill C-47 will increase cost of travel,” he said.
“Airlines cannot do it alone.”