Having succeeded the first Complaints Commissioner, Bruce Hood, from 2002 to 2004, I submitted to the Minister of Transport three reports on the status of complaints received at the Transportation Agency (OTC-CTA) in which I provided recommendations to better inform travelers and encourage carriers to compensate them adequately in the event of shortcomings in the services they were entitled to expect.
My ultimate goal was to create a Charter for Travelers, modeled on the one that already existed in Europe, which would force Canadian carriers to meet the expectations of their customers without having to go to court to obtain satisfaction.
Unfortunately, supposedly for the sake of economy, the position of complaints commissioner was abolished at the end of my mandate, in 2004, when Air Canada placed itself under court protection. This did not prevent passengers from submitting complaints to carriers, but made it more difficult to appeal to the Transport Office.
Remedies continue to exist, but their processing is so slow that it is tantamount to depriving citizens of a real remedy.
Several years after my departure, the Transportation Agency created the Air Passenger Protection Regulations which, as we can see, still lack vigor and visibility among travellers.
The role of purser was very important, because it made it possible to engage the managers at the highest level in the airlines, which sometimes allowed me to “twist my arms” to arrive at solutions that satisfied the customers, while sparing the carrier’s reputation.
Several people, media and individuals, suggest that we create a new position of independent ombudsman/commissioner, and I share this opinion, of course!