How to bring the airlines back to normal

During the holidays, travelers waited hours at the Montreal airport to hear from Air Canada. Sunwing customers were stuck in Mexico for several days, unable to know when they would return to Canada.

The big storm of December 23-24 had a wide back in terms of flight cancellations and delays.

Even without a crystal ball, one can predict that a similar scenario is likely to happen again at the next opportunity. Because Ottawa isn’t tough enough on airlines when it comes to passenger rights.

Nobody asks an airline to be Superman and fly under all circumstances. Planes sometimes have to be grounded for safety reasons, such as during the December 23-24 storm.

This does not mean that we should tolerate such casualness on the part of certain airlines. When the storm is over, a customer whose flight has been canceled or delayed must be able to leave within a reasonable time. Not when it’s most profitable for the carrier.

There is only one effective solution to this problem, and it is the government of Justin Trudeau who can impose it: significantly strengthen the rights of air passengers.

To ensure that airlines that treat their customers badly are really punished financially. So that disempowerment can no longer be a business model.

The more an airline manages to fill its flights, the more profitable it is. We understand that. But past a certain point, it’s counterproductive. In the event of a storm or unforeseen event, the airline is no longer able to honor its commitments to the resumption of flights within a reasonable time. There must be financial consequences for treating customers cavalierly, as Sunwing did in December.

Ottawa took a first step in 2019 by creating the “Traveller’s Charter”. The new regulations force airlines to reimburse customers for cancellations (instead of just offering credit) and to compensate customers for overbookings ($900 to $2400) or delays of more than three hours if it’s the airline’s fault ($125 to $1000).

The problem is that the Travelers Charter is full of holes. Some airlines do not hesitate to exploit them with imagination.

An example ? Companies do not have to compensate customers for delays beyond their control (weather, security issues). It’s perfectly normal. But some companies have tried to broaden this definition unreasonably, arguing that labor shortages are a reason for delay beyond their control. The Canadian Transportation Agency (OTC) finally proved them wrong, but the companies played for time without financial consequences.

For the 2022 Holidays, the storm of December 23-24 is an exceptional reason for delay beyond their control. But once you can fly again, the excuse no longer holds. Not wanting to charter an aircraft or buy seats from a competitor at a higher cost is not a justified exceptional circumstance.

Another problem: the organization responsible for enforcing the rights of travelers, the OTC, is already notoriously slow. It takes… more than a year to start processing complaints! In practice, he is not proactive enough from the start of the complaint handling process. This forces aggrieved travelers to turn to the courts, as we saw this week with the filing of a class action lawsuit against Air Canada.

Also, the OTC rarely uses its power to impose penalties for poor practices. Airlines that try to evade are not getting a slap in the face.

The CTA website will also not win any passenger rights outreach award. Many travelers turn instead to the company VolEnRetard.com, which takes care of your file for a commission in the event of compensation.

When it created its Travelers Charter, the federal government should have copied European regulations, which are stricter. It is no coincidence that European airlines are more reliable.

Advice to the Trudeau government: it is never too late to do the right thing and give Canadian travelers the same rights as in Europe.

In Europe, the airline must pay accommodation to a customer if their flight is delayed overnight for any reason (except force majeure such as an earthquake or the eruption of a volcano). This is not the case in Canada. Consequence: in Europe, as soon as they can fly again after a storm, airlines have a financial interest in finding a new flight during the day for their customers stuck at the airport. It would have made a difference in Canada at the end of December.

European regulations do not harm airlines. In 2022, Air France-KLM has a profit margin of 15%, compared to 9% for Air Canada¹. There is a way to make a profit by providing adequate service to its customers.

Almost completely invisible during the holidays, federal Transport Minister Omar Alghabra began reacting in the media on Thursday. It opened the door to strengthening the Travelers Charter.

He really has a lot of work ahead of him.

¹ Profit margin before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.