The Commons Transport committee said air travellers should receive more compensation for poor service. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra suggested developing a proposal for new regulations by June.. Omar AlghabraOmar Alghabra .“The committee heard from many witnesses on the shortcomings of the Air Passenger Protection Regulations as well as potential methods of improvement,” said a Transport committee report Strengthening Air Passenger Rights In Canada..“Many of these shortcomings were highlighted during the holiday period in December and January.”.Airlines were flooded with thousands of complaints over Christmas flight cancellations, delays and lost luggage, according to Blacklock’s Reporter..The smallest carrier, Sunwing Airlines, said it had 7,000 complaints from customers..MPs yesterday said regulations introduced in 2019 must be strengthened. Current rules include a compensation schedule of $400 for a three-hour flight delay, $900 for denial of boarding due to overbooking and up to $2,100 for lost or damaged luggage..The report recommended cabinet increase maximum penalties to an unspecified level to “ensure the burden of proof falls upon the airlines to demonstrate why compensation should not be awarded” and ban airlines’ payment of refunds using vouchers or coupons..The committee also recommended that all airlines disclose internal data on complaints and resolutions..Alghabra, in testimony last Dec. 5, said he was awaiting the committee’s recommendations..“Whatever recommendation is found to improve and strengthen the Passenger Bill of Rights, we will take action,” said Alghabra..“The last two years has stressed the system and has caused a lot of disruption and there are a lot of lessons learned.”.“I am more than willing and we are currently reexamining the regulations to figure out how we can strengthen them, how we can make them more efficient and more transparent,” said Alghabra..“This period has stress tested the system. It has exposed some areas of vulnerability.”.In 2019, federal regulators with the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) estimated compensation would cost airlines $154 million annually. The CTA then suspended enforcement of regulations in 2020 following the outbreak of the pandemic, leaving some 3.9 million passengers owed $8.5 billion, by an official estimate..The CTA’s current backlog of complaints runs to more than 43,000, about a two-year wait for consumers..“We know the Agency can’t cope,” Bloc Québécois MP Xavier Barsalou-Duval (Pierre Boucher-Les Patriotes, QC) told the Transport committee earlier..“It seems like it takes them years to review a complaint. The waiting time is a year and a half to two years currently, which is completely unacceptable. We get the sense they’re never going to get on top of this.”
