More than 55,000 people have complained to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) about air travel issues, according to an official estimate..According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the CTA usually deals with 10,000 complaints about poor service yearly..“Unfortunately, we have quite a big backlog,” France Pégeot, the CTA’s $328,000-a year CEO, testified on May 16 at the Senate Transport committee. .“We have 46,000 complaints in our backlog. Just last year, we received 40,000 complaints.”.Last year, the CTA received 42,068 complaints. This was way more than the year before when they received 12,158. It's a 246% jump. As of March 31, they were handling 55,488 complaints..On Nov. 28, the CTA said they handled 15,000 complaints in a year. But the numbers show that they only did this in 2021. In other years, they usually handled about 10,200 complaints each year..“We’ve got a daily regime of the cost of airlines not functioning properly and there not being any consequence,” Senator Pamela Wallin (SK) earlier told the transport committee. .“Flights are late constantly.”.“You miss connections, you miss work, you miss meetings,” said Wallin. .“You miss funerals, you miss weddings. There’s usually no Wi-Fi, so that you might be able to connect with people and explain. You’ve got people waiting at the airport for you. You’re paying those bills and we have to find some way of the airlines becoming functional.”. Airline complaints .CTA statistics show Flair Airlines, the self-described “ultra-low-cost carrier,” has the most complaints of any large Canadian airline, 15 per 100 flights. It compares to 14 at Sunwing, 14 at Swoop, six per 100 flights at WestJet, five at Lynx Air, four at Air Canada, three at Air Transat and less than one complaint per 100 flights at Porter Airlines..According to CTA data, the worst customer service records were among foreign carriers operating flights from Canada. The German carrier Lufthansa had 34 complaints per 100 flights followed by Qatar Airways (26), Air India and Egyptair (14), Air France (nine), Swiss International (seven), KLM and Philippine Airlines (six), British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Pakistan International (five), Japan Airlines (two). American Airlines and Delta (one per 100 flights)..“There is a reason there are tens of thousands of complaints with the Canadian Transportation Agency,” Senator Leo Housakos (QC), chair of the Transport committee, told senators. .“My question is the following: Will the airlines step up and correct the problem or do we have to take drastic steps as legislators to start protecting customers?”.“The buck stops, in my opinion, with the airline companies and the buck stops there because that’s where most of the revenue goes,” said Housakos. .“The customer comes last now. Shareholders come first. Executives of airline corporations come first. Unions and employees come second or third, but customers? Always dead last.”
