New rules clarify when travellers are compensated for flight disruptions

The federal government is proposing new rules surrounding airlines' obligations to travellers whose flights are disrupted, even when delays or cancellations are caused by an "exceptional circumstance" outside of carriers' 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 at least two hours, along with overnight accommodation if necessary.

Airlines would also have to provide refunds within 15 days, down from the current deadline of 30 days, if a passenger prefers to be reimbursed rather than rebooked when their flight is cancelled, delayed at least three hours, or they are bumped from the flight. That timeline shift is meant to better align with practices in the U.S. and the European Union, the federal agency said.

Ottawa said exceptional circumstances include security threats, unscheduled airport closures, bird strikes, weather, or aircraft damage 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 aiming to tighten rules for passenger rights.

Those reforms put the onus on airlines to show a flight disruption is caused by safety concerns or reasons outside their control.

Previously, Canada's passenger rights charter — which took effect in 2019 — divided flight disruptions into three categories: those caused by factors within the carrier’s control, disruptions within the carrier’s control but required for safety purposes, and those outside the airline's control.

Passengers had only been entitled to compensation in the first of those categories.

But the federal agency said that categorization system was too complex and led to "varied and differing interpretations" by air carriers and passengers, especially when a traveller's request for compensation was denied or the reason for a flight disruption was not clear.

The agency said it received more than 150,000 air travel complaints since 2019 and many of those have gone unresolved.

Transport Minister Anita Anand said the proposed amendments seek to simplify the rules for both travellers and air carriers.

"The proposed amendments eliminate grey zones and ambiguity about when passengers are owed compensation, which will ensure quicker resolutions for passengers," she said in a statement.

“We will work to reach the right balance between protecting the rights of passengers and promoting a competitive air sector."

The changes are now open to a 75-day feedback period.

Under the amended rules, airlines are generally not required to provide compensation for inconveniences to passengers in situations involving the prescribed exceptional circumstances.

However, it set out examples of delays or cancellations where the carriers must still do so despite those exceptional factors.

If a flight has been cancelled, or if a passenger has been bumped, the proposed amendments require the air carrier to rebook a passenger on its next available flight or that of a partner airline — even under exceptional circumstances.

Airlines also have an obligation to rebook a passenger who has missed, or is likely to miss, a connecting flight because of an earlier flight disruption on the same itinerary.

The regulations include a $250,000 maximum fine for airline violations, an amount that had been originally proposed by the Liberals' 2023 legislation. It marks a tenfold increase over existing penalties

The federal agency said it estimates the proposed amendments would cost carriers around 99 cents per passenger flight annually, or around $512 million over a 10-year period after they come into effect.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2024.