Government looking to strengthen air passenger protection rules after holiday chaos, minister says

Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says he's looking to strengthen air passenger protection regulations at a time of rising frustration with Canada's airlines.

Hundreds of travellers who used Sunwing to reach warm destinations over the holiday season found themselves stranded due to flight delays and cancellations. The airline attributed the delays to the major storm that much of Canada was dealing with around Christmas.

Many passengers were stranded for days as Sunwing attempted to adjust its flights.

But passengers on other airlines began experiencing flight disruptions as early as the spring, when demand for air travel began to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Current regulations require an airline to compensate passengers when a flight is delayed or cancelled for a reason that is within the airline's control. In cases of weather delays, airlines are required to keep passengers informed and rebook them. If they can't be rebooked within 48 hours, the airline is required to offer a refund.

But the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) — a quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator tasked with settling disputes between airlines and customers — has been dealing with a ballooning backlog of complaints from passengers who say they've been denied compensation.

In August, the backlog stood at 18,200 as complaints began flooding into the agency. It spiked to more than 30,000 complaints by the end of November.

Alghabra told CBC Radio's The House in an interview airing Saturday that the government is looking at strengthening the rules so that complaints against airlines are settled before reaching the CTA.

"Last summer and this winter, we've seen certain examples where passengers felt they were not communicated with, their rights were not upheld," he told host Catherine Cullen. "So we need to strengthen the rules."

Alghabra didn't go into detail about the measures he'll be looking at. He did say he would like to see more responsibility placed on airlines to compensate passengers before they file complaints.

"Currently, it feels to many passengers that the burden is on them," he said. "We want to make sure we put rules in place to ensure that the burden is on the airline."

The current rules came into place in 2019, but air passenger rights expert Ian Jack said a re-examination of the regulations is well overdue.

"It's about time that we hear this from the minister," said Jack, a spokesperson for the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), a non-profit travel agency.

"The regime has clearly had its problems since its inception."