Canadian airlines asking appeal court panel to quash passenger rights rules

Air Canada and Porter Airlines are among the applicants arguing that payments required under the country's three-year-old passenger rights charter violate international standards.

Canadian airlines are asking a Federal Court of Appeal panel today to quash rules that bolstered compensation for passengers subjected to delayed flights and damaged luggage.

Air Canada and Porter Airlines Inc., along with 16 other applicants that include the International Air Transport Association, argue that payments required under the country’s three-year-old passenger rights charter violate international standards and should be rendered invalid.

First filed in 2019, the court application states the new provisions contravene the Montreal Convention, a multilateral treaty, by setting compensation amounts based on the length of the delay and “irrespective of the actual damage suffered.”

The filing also says nullifying the regulations “would avoid the confusion to passengers” who could be subject to travel regimes from multiple jurisdictions on international flights.

Under the federal rules, passengers have to be compensated up to $2,400 if they were denied boarding because a flight was overbooked, and receive up to $2,100 for lost or damaged luggage. Delays and other payments for cancelled flights warrant compensation of up to $1,000.

The issue took on renewed relevance to thousands of Canadians starting in March 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions prompted mass flight cancellations and grounded fleets.

The hearings are slated to run today and Thursday.