(OTTAWA) The treatment of travelers by airlines during the Christmas holidays has once again shown that the charter to protect them is not working, according to NDP MP Taylor Bachrach. Air Canada, Sunwing and WestJet must explain themselves to a parliamentary committee on Thursday about their failures after the winter storm that hit the east and west of the country a few days before Christmas.
The elected representative of British Columbia intends to put pressure on the Minister of Transport, Omar Alghabra, so that he introduces a bill in order to adopt the same protection regime for air travelers as the European Union.
Mr. Alghabra is also part of the long list of witnesses who will be on the hot seat. Aéroports de Montréal, as well as the airport authorities of Toronto and Vancouver, will also answer questions from elected officials.
“The reality is that the most basic customer service expectations have not been met,” Bachrach said. Minister Alghabra should, in his opinion, have used “the powers conferred on him by law to force the airlines to do better” instead of remaining on “the players’ bench”.
He asks the minister to quickly introduce a new, more restrictive law so that “the payment of financial compensation becomes the norm and not the exception” and to put “passengers’ rights before the profits of the major air carriers”.
PHOTO JUSTIN TANG, THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Omar Alghabra
Hundreds of travelers have found themselves stranded in Mexico over the holiday season after Sunwing canceled their return flight without giving them information on when they could return home. Others have had their Air Canada or WestJet flight canceled without being able to speak to customer service to find a solution.
Minister Alghabra said on CBC on Saturday that he wants to strengthen the Passenger Protection Regulations.
This Travelers Charter, which has been in effect since 2019, provides for compensation of up to $1,000 in the event of a flight delay or cancellation attributable to the airlines. They also have an obligation to provide an update on their flight status every 30 minutes until a new departure time has been set.
Since September, air carriers have also had the obligation to refund or offer a new reservation at the passenger’s option when a flight is canceled or delayed due to a situation beyond their control, such as the storm in December. .
However, the number of complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has since exploded and exceeded 33,000 as of January 4.