Despite the Canadian Transportation Agency receiving millions in additional funding, the federal backlog of air passenger complaints has reached a new record of over 60,000 cases.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Agency responsible for assisting passengers whose travel plans were affected by poor service has described the wait times as "unacceptable."“The Agency acknowledges these wait times are unacceptable,” managers wrote in an Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons. “It is taking steps to eliminate the backlog and reduce wait times.”“The number of complaints sits at 60,800,” said the Inquiry. “The current wait time for an air travel complaint to be processed is approximately 18 months.” New complaints were being filed at the rate of about 600 a week, it said.Figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Dan Albas (Central Okanagan-Similkameen, BC), who asked “What is the current backlog of air traffic complaints?” The Agency acknowledged it had no service standard and “cannot estimate the projected wait time for new complaints as an important variable of the workload is the number of complaints it receives, which is not predictable.”Agency funding last year totalled $53 million. In its March 28 budget, the cabinet promised $75.9 million in additional funding over three years “to ensure it has the resources to increase its complaint processing capacity.”The Agency said it hired 40 new employees this year and would hire 60 more in 2024. “Given these changes the Agency expects the number of complaints it can process will increase significantly,” said the Inquiry.Parliamentary committees have frequently criticized the Agency for inconsistent enforcement of Air Passenger Protection Regulations. In 2019, Parliament mandated a “compensation schedule" that ranged from $400 for a three-hour flight delay to $900 for being denied boarding due to overbooking, with compensation going up to $2,100 for lost or damaged luggage, and a maximum of $25,000 for general damages.“There is a reason there are tens of thousands of complaints with the Canadian Transportation Agency,” Senator Leo Housakos (QC), chair of the Senate Transport committee, earlier told senators. “The customer comes last,” he said.“Shareholders come first,” said Housakos. “Executives of airline corporations come first. Unions and employees come second or third, but customers? Always dead last.”The annual statistics compiled by the Transportation Agency revealed that Flair Airlines had the highest number of complaints among large Canadian airlines, with 15 complaints per 100 flights. Sunwing and Swoop both had 14 complaints per 100 flights. WestJet had six complaints per 100 flights, Lynx Air had five, Air Canada had four, Air Transat had three, and Porter Airlines had less than one complaint per 100 flights.
