In an interview, Gábor Lukács – founder of the advocacy group Travelers Rights – said the separate decisions made this summer by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) in favor of passengers whose flights were canceled due to understaffing are only to address the complaints by the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) to suffocate thousands of Canadians who have suffered from airport congestion and flight delays over the past year.

“These two decisions are isolated and exceptional incidents where the OTC is doing what it is supposed to be doing,” Lukács said.

“These two decisions (serve as) helpful jurisprudence for passengers taking airlines to small claims court rather than wasting months or years waiting for the CTA. However, they offer no meaningful recourse to passengers pinning their hopes on the OTC. »

In August, the CTA — a quasi-judicial tribunal — ordered Air Canada to pay Lisa Crawford and her son $1,000 each, including the August 2021 flight from Fort St. John, British Columbia, to Halifax, which took 16 hours was late.

Earlier this summer, CTA also ordered WestJet to pay $1,000 to a passenger whose flight from Ottawa was canceled in July 2021, meaning he arrived at his destination in Regina, Saskatchewan, 21 hours later than scheduled.

In both rulings, the CTA ruled that staffing shortages are the airline’s responsibility and not a safety issue, as the airlines had argued. Under Canada’s Air Passenger Protection Regulations, airlines are only required to compensate passengers for delayed and canceled flights if the reason for the disruption is within the airline’s control.

WestJet filed a motion stating its intention to appeal the decision, while Air Canada said it was still reviewing the CTA’s decision. Both airlines declined to comment further on the matter.

However, Lukács said the CTA currently has a backlog of thousands of complaints from Canadians impacted by flight cancellations and delays amid the pandemic. He said while compensation is one thing, the CTA should be handing out harsh fines to airlines that don’t comply with Canada’s passenger protection laws.

The Federal Transportation Authority unveiled the original Air Passenger Protection Rules in 2019, outlining how airlines should communicate and reimburse or compensate travelers for disruptions ranging from delayed flights to damaged luggage. However, there have been exceptions to delays and cancellations that are beyond the airline’s control, such as: B. major weather events – or a pandemic.

The updated guidelines, introduced earlier this month, are an attempt by the federal government to close loopholes that have prevented some passengers from receiving cash refunds following pandemic-related flight delays and cancellations. Now airlines must issue full refunds for cancellations and delays if passengers are not rebooked on a new flight within 48 hours, including for reasons beyond the airline’s control.

“These new requirements set out the deadlines, coverage, method of payment and deadlines for travelers to be reimbursed in such situations,” German Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in a statement.

“They have been set in a way that is fair and reasonable for passengers without imposing an undue financial burden on airlines that could result in increased travel costs. »

Air Canada and Porter Airlines, along with 17 other plaintiffs, including the International Air Transport Association – which has some 290 member airlines – said in a court filing that the payments required under the country’s new Air Passenger Rights Bill of Rights violate international standards and that these Requirements should be overridden.