The Liberals have put forward legislation that aims to make good on their pledge to tighten passenger rights rules after a year pocked by travel chaos and a ballooning complaints backlog. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
OTTAWA – The Liberals have put forward legislation that aims to make good on their pledge to tighten passenger rights rules after a year marked by travel chaos and a ballooning complaints backlog.
Tabled in the House of Commons as part of a broader budget bill Thursday, the new provisions ratchet up penalties on airlines, shore up the complaint process and target luggage and flight disruption loopholes that allow airlines to steer clear of customer compensation.
Sylvie De Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the advocacy group Option consommateurs, says the tenfold increase to a $250,000 maximum fine for airline violations encourages compliance, as does an amendment placing the regulatory cost of complaints on carriers’ shoulders.
She also says complaint resolution will be faster with the establishment of dedicated officers, and applauds the closure of a loophole that has allowed airlines to avoid compensation for delayed baggage.
However, passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs says the legislation fails to ensure transparency for the complaints process and leaves too much discretion in the hands of the regulator, particularly on compensation for flight disruptions.
The National Airlines Council of Canada, an industry group representing four of the country’s biggest carriers, says the government should focus on other priorities to strengthen air travel such as airport upgrades.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2023.
