The Trudeau government is promising to beef up air passenger protection rules in the wake of a chaotic holiday travel season that saw hundreds of Canadian stranded far from home. Speaking to a special session of a House of Commons committee on Thursday (Jan. 12), Transport Minister Omar Alghabra suggested that Ottawa is looking to changing regulations so that more of the onus is on airlines to show why they don’t have to compensate a mistreated customer, The Globe and Mail reports. According to the Globe, Alghabra said passengers are too often told by airlines that they’re not entitled to Read more
Transport Canada
The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) today announced that the Regulations Amending the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, which provide additional refund requirements, are now in force. But one transportation expert says the new rules are only a “slight improvement.” Until now, the Air Passenger Protection Regulations only required refunds to be provided for flight disruptions within the control of airlines. The new requirements now require airlines to provide passengers with either a refund or rebooking, at the passenger’s choice, when there is a flight cancellation, or a lengthy delay, due to a situation outside the airline’s control that prevents it from Read more
The Trudeau government says it’s adding more airport screening officers and customs workers to help ease congestion at Canada’s crowded airports. Senior federal ministers issued a statement late Friday to say that the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) “has been working with its contractors to increase the number of screening officers at passenger screening checkpoints. Currently, there are approximately 400 additional screening officers in different phases of their training across the country who will be deployed between now and the end of June.” With Transport Canada’s support, “these recruits will benefit from progressing more quickly through a more flexible Read more
The Trudeau government say the majority of non-compliant passengers on a rowdy Sunwing flight in late December of last year have been fined. Following Transport Canada’s investigation into the Montréal-Cancun flight of December 30, 2021, the agency announced today that it has issued a total of 42 penalties to 37 of the 154 passengers, including 18 penalties for non-compliance of vaccination status, and 24 penalties for not respecting instructions to wear a mask. The total value of these penalties, which could reach a maximum of $5,000 each, is $59,500. The December 30 flights sparked outrage and headlines around the world Read more
The Canadian government has “intercepted and interrogated” some 27 of 130 passengers on board the now infamous Sunwing party flight from Montreal to Mexico. Speaking at a news conference today in Ottawa, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said authorities are continuing their investigation and that the government of Quebec is looking at “penal and criminal issues” surrounding the flight. “Transport Canada rules were broken,” he said. Video footage surfaced this week showing influencers and Quebec reality TV actors partying on a flight from Montreal to Cancun on December 30. A bottle of vodka appeared at one point, and passengers were dancing Read more
