Regulator sided with passengers over airlines in 50% of recent complaint rulings, data shows

Half of all airline passenger disputes resolved by Canada's transport regulator over a recent nine-month period have resulted in wins for passengers. 

According to CBC News analysis of newly available data, Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) officers ordered airlines to compensate or refund passengers in 50 per cent of the 9,740 cases they resolved between Sept. 30, 2023, and June 30.

In most (72.6 per cent) of the rulings favouring the passenger, airlines were ordered to pay compensation for flight disruptions. In the rest, carriers had to reimburse customers for added expenses, or refund flights.

In each case, CTA officers issued the ruling after the airline had denied a passenger's claim, and the passenger and the airline failed to resolve the matter.

"Half of [the passengers] were right, that they should have been paid and the airlines were wrong," said John Gradek, lecturer and co-ordinator of the aviation management program at McGill University in Montreal.

The airlines, he said, "are playing a little fast and loose" with the rules. 

The data is available in a new online tool on the CTA's website. Even so, some industry and legal experts have raised concerns because the full CTA decisions, which used to be posted online, are now confidential. That means most case details, including all the reasons behind a ruling, and how much compensation was awarded, are no longer made public. 

"It's a violation of the open justice principle that these legally binding decisions are being made essentially in private," said Paul Daly, chair in administrative law and governance at the University of Ottawa.

"I have grave doubts about the constitutionality of this provision." 

Canada's air passenger protection regulations started rolling out in 2019. According to the rules, airlines must cover added expenses for certain flight disruptions, provide cash refunds for flight cancellations, and pay up to $1,000 for delays of three hours or more within the carrier's control. 

The CTA settles disputes between airlines and customers. Due to a flood of passenger complaints over the past several years, the agency's backlog has swelled to more than 74,000 grievances. 

Among the 50 per cent of CTA rulings that favoured passengers, 1,553 (32.8%) involved Canada's largest airline, Air Canada, and 1,443 (30 per cent) involved WestJet, the second largest.

Air Canada spokesperson Christophe Hennebelle pointed out that far less than half of CTA decisions involving the airline (39.5 per cent) resulted in an order to pay a passenger. 

"Air Canada, in the vast majority of cases, properly compensates its customers," said Hennebelle in an email.