Air Canada should face more consequences after two disruptions in a week, consumer advocate says
CTV
An airline consumer advocate says Air Canada should face tougher consequences for stranding passengers after two disruptions in a week.
An airline consumer advocate says Air Canada should face tougher consequences for stranding passengers after two disruptions in a week.
Gábor Lukács, president of Air Passenger Rights, said Canadian airlines such as Air Canada currently don’t face enough consequences from the government each time they delay or cancel a flight.
“It feels like the airlines just have a free pass,” Lukasc told CTVNews.ca in an interview Friday.
Air Canada’s operations were jolted not once but twice in a span of seven days, impacting over 670 flights combined. On May 25, 241 Air Canada flights were delayed, and 19 were cancelled. This past Thursday, 362 flights were delayed and 48 cancelled, according to tracking service FlightAware.com.
Air Canada said the recently implemented system used to communicate with aircraft and monitor the performance of its operations was having technical problems.
In a statement to CTVNews.ca yesterday, the airline confirmed that both incidents occurred in the same system but were unrelated.
Currently, a traveller is entitled to between $125 and $1,000 in compensation for delays up to three hours or more, unless the disruption is a result of events beyond the airline’s control.
