Be careful how you search for flights; it could be costing you tons of money. It might surprise frequent travelers, but experts caution that excessive flight searches could cost you more. The intricate algorithms of online booking sites and the privacy concerns around cookies can lead to price hikes based on your search activity. “When you look for flights multiple times, you might be inadvertently increasing your ticket price,” ProxyScrape CEO Thibeau Maerevoet suggests. The Connection Between Search History and Airfare Prices Numerous studies and real-world scenarios reveal a significant relationship between your search behavior and flight fares, Maerevoet says. Read more
consumer news
Get ready for higher airline prices in Canada. Airline and travel industry experts say WestJet’s decision to wind down Sunwing Airlines over the next two years will mean more inflation for consumers. “It’s going to mean higher prices and worse service,” Gabor Lukacs, president of Air Passenger Rights, a Halifax-based advocacy organization, told the Globe and Mail. While WestJet’s decision to wind down Sunwing Airlines operations will almost certainly lead to higher prices, McGill University aviation expert John Gradek told that the Globe that that’s just one of several issues that Ottawa needs to address in the airline industry. “The Read more
Canadian airlines could soon face tougher rules for delays and cancellations, a top official in the Justin Trudeau government says. Speaking in the wake of a bad bout of holiday travel chaos that left hundreds of Canadians stranded over Christmas and New Year’s, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says the country’s recently-updated air passenger protection rules could be in for more changes that would help consumers. Alghabra told the CBC he’s looking at rules that would put the onus on airlines to deal with complaints, and not force consumers to file complaints with the Canadian Transport Agency (CTA). “Last summer and Read more
The CBC reports that the backlog of complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency related to delayed or cancelled flights or lost luggage has ballooned to more than 30,000 — up from 18,000 this summer — but the number may have peaked. The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) — a quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator tasked with settling disputes between airlines and customers — has been dealing with a massive number of air passenger complaints since new regulations came into force in 2019 that require an airline to compensate passengers when a flight is delayed or cancelled for a reason that is within Read more
The government of Canada says it’s bringing in new rules to protect passengers from cancelled or delayed flights. Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said that, as the Canadian aviation industry continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and more and more Canadians are choosing to travel by air, it’s especially important that travellers are treated with fairness and respect. “I am pleased to see that the Canadian Transportation Agency’s new Regulations Amending the Air Passenger Protection Regulations are now finalized,” he said in a statement issued today by the Trudeau government. “These regulations require that refunds be provided for cancelled flights or Read more
