The federal government plans to strengthen protections for air passengers after a Sunwing Airlines fiasco left hundreds stranded over the holidays, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says.
In an interview with Global News on Thursday, Alghabra said his department has a “plan on how we can strengthen the rules” — though he did not elaborate on the specifics of this plan.
The Liberals introduced a new regime for air passenger rights in 2019. Known as the Air Passenger Protections Regulations, they lay out the minimum airline requirements for travel – including “standards of treatment” and, in some situations, “compensation for passengers,” according to the website.
Now the government is “consulting with Transport Canada” on beefing up these protections for passengers.
“We’re looking forward to figuring out what other measures can we put in our passenger bill of rights to make sure that the airlines are the ones who are responsible for these claims, not the CTA (Canadian Transportation Agency),” Alghabra said.
The CTA is the quasi-judicial body that adjudicates claims against airlines, giving passengers recourse when they feel a complaint against an airline has been left unresolved. But going to the CTA should be a last resort, according to the transport minister.
“The airlines are the ones responsible for refunding passengers without having to go to the CTA,” Alghabra said.
“I hope passengers don’t have to go to the CTA. This is a conversation that I had with Sunwing today.”
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During his conversation with Sunwing executives Thursday morning, Alghabra said the CEO assured him passengers “will be compensated” for what happened over the holidays.
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“They expressed their apology and regrets for what had happened,” he added.
“I think in hindsight there were some issues that Sunwing could have managed better and I know that Sunwing is dealing with those.”
In a joint statement on Thursday, Sunwing Travel Group CEO Stephen Hunter and Sunwing Airlines president Len Corrado said they are “incredibly sorry for letting our customers down.”
“We regret that we did not meet the level of service our customers expect from Sunwing,” the executives said.
“We had clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions, which limited our ability to reposition aircraft and crew to other airports to help alleviate the backlog in flights.”
The apology comes after hundreds of Canadians were stranded in Mexico and other sunny destinations over the holidays when Sunwing cancelled flights.
Passengers described being shuffled between hotels, sometimes arriving to find there were no rooms booked for them. The stranded Canadians said Sunwing officials also passed along inaccurate and incomplete information about when they might be able to head home.
Sunwing said on Tuesday in a series of tweets that it has completed all of its scheduled recovery flights to bring home stranded passengers. The airline has, however, stopped flying from Saskatchewan entirely until next month, abruptly cancelling travellers’ plans with the promise of a refund.
Alghabra says he will testify about Sunwing if asked
In addition to the airline cancellations, VIA Rail customers also experienced significant disruptions over the holidays as a winter storm slammed Ontario and Quebec.
The train service left passengers in the lurch as the massive winter storm caused cancellations and delays throughout the Christmas weekend, a situation Alghabra called “unacceptable.”
Following the holiday travel chaos, the chair of the federal transportation committee has pledged to call a meeting to probe the problems.
“I will be convening a meeting of the transport committee and will be calling on VIA Rail and Sunwing to appear,” Peter Schiefke, a Liberal MP, said in a tweet on Tuesday.
“Canadians deserve answers for the unacceptable delays and cancellations seen over the holiday season.”
It wasn’t immediately clear when a meeting would be held.
When asked whether he plans to testify before the committee on the transportation disruptions, Alghabra said he “always” welcomes the “opportunity to attend committee.”
“I think Canadians deserve answers,” he said.
“If I can play a role in providing some information and talking about the work that we’re doing, I’d be more than happy to do so.”
— with files from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea and The Canadian Press
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