(Montreal) The number of air passenger complaints to Canada’s transportation regulator has more than tripled in the past year, surpassing the 42,000 threshold this month.
This growing backlog means each case will now take more than a year and a half to process, prompting advocacy groups and politicians to question the effectiveness of the process, even as the hiring and funding increase.
The tally of complaints rose on the heels of last summer’s travel chaos, and again over the holiday break as demand for flights increased and bad weather disrupted flight schedules.
Complaints numbered around 13,400 as of March 31, 2022, before soaring to all-time highs in the following 12 months, according to reports from the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA). They reached the number of 36,000 at the end of January and have increased by another 17% since then.
This growth in the number of complaints comes despite additional funding of 11 million for the regulator in the federal budget last April, and an additional aid of 76 million announced last week, with the aim of increasing staff and expedite the handling of complaints.
The agency currently has 343 employees, compared to 298 at the end of March last year, she said in an email.
The president of the CTA assures that the treatment of complaints remains her main objective and that the application of the law comes next. But critics say the backlog is attributable to major flaws in the air passengers’ bill of rights and inaction by the regulator.
Tabling of a bill
New Democratic Party (NDP) transportation critic Taylor Bachrach on Monday introduced a private member’s bill to close loopholes, increase fines and make traveler compensation automatic whose flights are delayed or cancelled.
The Air Passenger Protection Regulations, which came into force in 2019, allow airlines to reject compensation claims citing safety-related reasons. The bill would put an end to this exception.
Meanwhile, travel advocacy groups say the lack of fines demonstrates the agency’s disregard for law enforcement. The total value of penalties imposed on airlines and airports reached $645,630 in the last 12 months, compared to $253,975 in 2021-22 and $54,500 in 2020-21. However, the most recent figure represents only a tiny fraction of annual airline sales – less than 0.04% of Air Canada’s $16.56 billion revenue last year, for example.
Bachrach is calling for tougher penalties and tougher enforcement.
“The fines provided for in the current legislation are insufficient to have a deterrent effect. As long as the cost of following the rules outweighs the cost of breaking them, we will see airlines operating outside the rules in the normal course of business,” he said in a phone interview from Prince. Rupert, British Columbia.
CTO President France Pégeot told the transport committee in January that clearer and stricter rules could lead to better enforcement. She said, however, that the agency’s role as a quasi-judicial tribunal dealing with complaints was the number one priority, and that its mandate to penalize violations came second.
“The first thing we do is we really focus, first and foremost, on complaints, because that’s what puts money in consumers’ pockets,” Ms.me Pégeot at the committee, January 12.
At the time, the agency had only six dedicated enforcement officers, she noted.
It has also never fined an airline for violating passenger compensation, she pointed out.
Both Mr Bachrach and John Lawford, who heads the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, say the overhaul of passenger rights promised by the federal government for this spring must also make compensation automatic in the event of significant delays or short notice cancellations.
“You need a very dedicated regulator with a clear set of rules that apply a lot, and a regime that is easy for consumers to navigate – almost automatic,” Mr Lawford argued in a telephone interview.
Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer for the Quebec group Option consommateurs, agrees with another aspect of Mr. Bachrach’s bill: the transfer to the airlines of the burden of proof in the event of flight disruptions. Carriers would then have to provide the information to show that compensation is not required, unlike the current situation, which requires travelers to request information from the airlines to prove this – which Mr.me De Bellefeuille considers it “illogical”.
More employees to come
Last week, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra pledged $75.9 million over three years to reduce the CTA’s backlog of complaints by hiring 200 more staff. He also pledged to close the loophole that allows airlines to reject compensation claims for safety reasons, such as unscheduled maintenance or even crew shortages.
The CTO’s general manager of analytics and liaison, Tom Oommen, told The Canadian Press in August that he was trying to hire more officers to help resolve customer complaints, but the retention of workers remained a problem.
“The CTA has already reviewed its current complaints resolution process to identify and make improvements to the process to ensure it makes the best use of the resources provided to it by the government,” the agency said in a statement. an email last week.
“For example, we have already been able to streamline the receipt of complaints and reduce incomplete and inaccurate requests from 50% of all requests received to 10%, which translates into less administrative back-and-forth and shorter wait times for complainants. »