A Senate transport committee meeting was told on Feb. 15 that the Canadian Transportation Agency has a record backlog of up to 38,000 air travel complaints.
“The Canadian Transportation Agency has reported about a 38,000-complaint backlog that they are working through,” Craig Hutton, associate assistant deputy transport minister, told the federal committee. He said that 97 percent of complaints “are resolved by facilitation.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra appeared before the committee and said that passengers “were left in the dark” during winter travel issues, which has resulted in “an avalanche of complaints” to the agency since the summer of 2022.
“But bad weather cannot be blamed for why travellers were not being informed about what was going on when their flights were delayed or cancelled. Nor can it explain why travellers weren’t made aware of alternative plans or the compensation they were rightfully due because their rights had been violated,” said the minister.
“The pandemic exposed weaknesses in these regulations,” and “passengers are too often being told by the airlines that they are not entitled to compensation when they really are,” said Alghabra.
The federal government plans to introduce legislation this spring to toughen passenger protection regulations, he told the committee.
“The changes we hope to make will shift the burden of proof away from passengers and onto the airlines to help reduce number of complaints. We’re also looking at strengthening regulations on lost baggage,” said the minister.
