Canadian Transportation Agency still to review 33k+ air travel complaints

FILE - An airport board showing flight delays in Canada. (CityNews Image)

By Monika Gul and Hana Mae Nassar

Posted January 16, 2023 9:56 am.

Last Updated January 16, 2023 10:16 am.

The Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has a backlog of complaints to review, exacerbated by a holiday travel season marred by cancellations and delays.

As of Friday, more than 33,000 complaints had yet to be reviewed.

“There’s all of these complaints and nothing seems to be moving forward. So, absolutely frustrated,” Shauna Grainger, who is among the many waiting to hear back about a complaint with the CTA, told CityNews.

Grainger filed an air travel complaint with the CTA after a flight she was supposed to be on in January 2022 from Abbotsford to Calgary was cancelled due to staffing issues. She says the airline failed to give her compensation for the inconvenience, forcing her to turn to the CTA.

Months later, she says she’s still waiting for her complaint to be reviewed.

“It’s just an absolute nightmare. If I see the $500 per passenger, it’s going to be a win-win, but I’m not holding my breath,” explained Grainger, who says her complaint is still more than 9,000th in line to be reviewed.

“We do have a big backlog. I recognize the frustration of people who have first dealt with flight disruptions and now have a complaint filed with the agency. It’s obviously not a situation the agency would like to have,” Tom Oommen, director general, analysis liaison, CTA, said last week.

He notes cases have been backed up since the Air Passenger Bill of Rights came into effect in 2019. However, the case load has grown due to system wide issues, such as those seen in the summer and over the recent holiday season.

Oommen adds the CTA is looking at processes and making improvements, but they can only do so much.

“We’re given resources by the government and we’re independent from government and we carry out our actions based on those resources as efficiently as possible,” he said.

Gabor Lukacs, the president of consumer advocacy group Air Passenger Rights, says part of the problem is it takes a disproportionate amount of time and resources to determine whether a complaint is valid.

“Canada never implemented a passenger protection regime that would be comparable to the European Union gold standard, and it shows. One of the strengths of the European system is its simplicity. It takes a couple of weeks to decide whether a passenger is or isn’t eligible for compensation, and that is what Canada would need,” he explained.

The federal transportation minister has recently hinted that changes are on the way but did not elaborate.

“We will of course continue to put the necessary resources into the CTA so that it can fulfill its mandate. But, we will also make other changes to the regulations to improve its efficiency,” Omar Alghabra said at a federal committee investigation meeting last week, when air travel stakeholders were asked to address the most recent chaos to overwhelm the industry over the Christmas period.

At that sit down, MPs heard from airlines, airport authorities, and Alghabra as they were grilled about the widespread disruptions that plagued passengers amid wicked winter weather across Canada and the U.S.

Alghabra was accused by some of not better protecting passenger rights and not doing enough to force airlines to follow the rules. The minister responded by saying the government was doing what it could, and that it was “not hiding.”

Airlines and airports offered their apologies to passengers, with some saying the situation was a failure.

“When even one customer is let down by their experience with our airline, I consider that a failure,” Len Corrado, the president of Sunwing, said.

Until new changes are brought in, Lukacs is recommending Canadians go through small claims court instead.

Meanwhile, Grainger is urging people who may have a complaint to be patient.

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