Minister vows to toughen air passenger rights as Sunwing admits ‘clear failures’ – National | 24CA News

The federal authorities plans to strengthen protections for air passengers after a Sunwing Airlines fiasco left lots of stranded over the vacations, Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says.

In an interview with Global News on Thursday, Alghabra stated his division has a “plan on how we can strengthen the rules” — although he didn’t elaborate on the specifics of this plan.

The Liberals launched a brand new regime for air passenger rights in 2019. Known because the Air Passenger Protections Regulations, they lay out the minimal airline necessities for journey – together with “standards of treatment” and, in some conditions, “compensation for passengers,” in keeping with the web site.

Now the federal 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 stated.

The CTA is the quasi-judicial physique that adjudicates claims towards airways, giving passengers recourse after they really feel a criticism towards an airline has been left unresolved. But going to the CTA ought to be a final resort, in keeping with the transport minister.

“The airlines are the ones responsible for refunding passengers without having to go to the CTA,” Alghabra stated.

“I hope passengers don’t have to go to the CTA. This is a conversation that I had with Sunwing today.”

During his dialog with Sunwing executives Thursday morning, Alghabra stated the CEO assured him passengers “will be compensated” for what occurred over the vacations.

“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 assertion on Thursday, Sunwing Travel Group CEO Stephen Hunter and Sunwing Airlines president Len Corrado stated they’re “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 stated.

“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 lots of of Canadians have been stranded in Mexico and different sunny locations over the vacations when Sunwing cancelled flights.

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Travel chaos: What recourse are passengers in search of from airways?

Passengers described being shuffled between inns, generally arriving to seek out there have been no rooms booked for them. The stranded Canadians stated Sunwing officers additionally handed alongside inaccurate and incomplete details about after they may be capable to head house.

Sunwing stated on Tuesday in a collection of tweets that it has accomplished all of its scheduled restoration flights to deliver house stranded passengers. The airline has, nevertheless, stopped flying from Saskatchewan completely till subsequent month, abruptly cancelling travellers’ plans with the promise of a refund.

In addition to the airline cancellations, VIA Rail clients additionally skilled important disruptions over the vacations as a winter storm slammed Ontario and Quebec.

The practice service left passengers within the lurch as the huge winter storm brought about cancellations and delays all through the Christmas weekend, a state of affairs Alghabra known as “unacceptable.”

Following the vacation journey chaos, the chair of the federal transportation committee has pledged to name a gathering to probe the issues.

“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, stated in a tweet on Tuesday.

“Canadians deserve answers for the unacceptable delays and cancellations seen over the holiday season.”

It wasn’t instantly clear when a gathering can be held.

When requested whether or not he plans to testify earlier than the committee on the transportation disruptions, Alghabra stated he “always” welcomes the “opportunity to attend committee.”

“I think Canadians deserve answers,” he stated.

“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 information from Global News’ Aaron D’Andrea and The Canadian Press

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