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
Ottawa
Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the airport… Canadians managed to get through a winter marred by travel snafus, including winter storms, overcrowded airports and cancelled flights. But now comes a potential spring double whammy. Some 155,000 federal works are on strike today (April 20). Talks are back on between the Public Service Alliance of Canada and the Trudeau government, but for now Canada Revenue Agency workers are not at their desks, and Canadian passport offices are closed. The CBC reports that passport applications and renewals “are on hold and limited to those in humanitarian Read more
A Canadian parliamentary committee is calling for sweeping changes to Canada’s air passenger rights rules, including better compensation regulations for those facing delayed or cancelled flights, and tougher enforcement of the rules. Canadian Press reports that the recommendations, tabled in Ottawa on Tuesday (April 18), comes after chaotic travel seasons over the summer and winter holidays brought on by soaring demand, labour shortages and winter storms. The House of Commons standing committee on transport offered 21 recommendations, including stronger monetary penalties, smoother processing of compensation claims and automatic payout offers after cancellations, significant delays or denial of boarding. The Globe Read more
Canada’s passport application backlog has been ‘completely eliminated,’ one of the top ministers in the Trudeau government says. CTV News reports tat Families, Children and Social Development Minister Karina Gould this week said that service times for passport applications are back to pre-pandemic standards, after the backlog ballooned last summer. Canadians looking to renew their passports last summer found long wait lines and lengthy delays, an issue that passport officials said was due to a huge spike in demand for travel as COVID travel restrictions began to ease. The CBC reports that Canadians waiting anxiously for their passports to arrive before Read more
The number of air passenger complaints to Canada’s transport regulator has more than tripled over the past year, soaring past 42,000 as of this month, Canadian Press reports. Complaints totalled about 13,400 as of March 31, 2022, before skyrocketing to unprecedented highs in the ensuing 12 months, according to Canadian Transportation Agency reports. They hit 36,000 in late January, and rose by another 17 per cent since then. Ottawa recently announced $75.9 million in new funding to help deal with the backlog. Canadian Press reports another $11 million was given to the CTA last year, and that the number of Read more
