The federal government is proposing new rules on airlines’ obligations to travelers whose flights are disrupted, even when delays or cancellations are caused by an “exceptional circumstance” outside the airlines’ control.
The Canadian Transportation Agency’s amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, announced Saturday, would require carriers to provide meals to passengers whose flights are delayed by at least two hours, along with overnight accommodations if necessary.
Airlines would also have to provide refunds within 15 days, compared to the current 30-day deadline, if a passenger prefers to receive a refund rather than rebook their flight when their flight is cancelled, delayed by at least three hours or He is kicked off the flight. That schedule change is intended to better align with practices in the United States and the European Union, the federal agency said.
Ottawa said exceptional circumstances include security threats, unscheduled airport closures, bird strikes, weather or damage to aircraft that could affect flight safety, among other examples.
The Canadian Transportation Agency has been working to amend regulations associated with the Canada Transportation Act since the Liberal government passed legislation last year aimed at tightening rules on passenger rights.
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Those reforms put the onus on airlines to prove that a flight disruption is due to safety concerns or reasons beyond their control.
Previously, Canada’s passenger bill of rights, which came into force in 2019, divided flight disruptions into three categories: those caused by factors within the carrier’s control, disruptions within the carrier’s control but necessary for reasons security and those that were outside the airline’s control.
Passengers were only entitled to compensation in the first of those categories.
But the federal agency said the categorization system was too complex and led to “varied and different interpretations” by airlines and passengers, especially when a traveler’s request for compensation or the reason for the interruption of travel was denied. flight was unclear.
The agency said it has received more than 150,000 complaints about air travel since 2019 and many of them remain unresolved.
Transport Minister Anita Anand said the proposed amendments seek to simplify the rules for both travelers and airlines.
“The proposed amendments remove gray areas and ambiguity around when passengers are owed compensation, which will ensure faster resolutions for passengers,” it said in a statement.
“We will work to strike the right balance between protecting passenger rights and promoting a competitive airline industry.”
The changes are now open to a 75-day comment period.
Under the amended rules, airlines are generally not required to compensate passengers for inconvenience in situations involving the prescribed exceptional circumstances.
However, it sets out examples of delays or cancellations where carriers are still required to do so despite those exceptional factors.
If a flight has been cancelled, or if a passenger has been turned away, the proposed amendments require the airline to rebook a passenger on its next available flight or that of a partner airline, even in exceptional circumstances.
Airlines are also required to rebook a passenger who has missed, or is likely to miss, a connecting flight due to a previous flight disruption on the same itinerary.
The regulations include a maximum fine of $250,000 for airline violations, an amount that had originally been proposed by the Liberals’ 2023 legislation. It means multiplying existing penalties by ten
The federal agency said it estimates the proposed amendments would cost airlines about 99 cents per passenger flight per year, or about $512 million over a 10-year period after they take effect.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
