C-327 – Strengthening Air Passenger Protection Act – changes the Canada Transportation Act to put measures in place that aim to reduce the frequency that airlines cancel/reschedule flights, outlines the compensation passengers are due when airlines do so, and increase fines for non-compliance.
New Definitions
The first change C-327 makes is adding some new definitions to the Canada Transportation Act:
Denial of boarding – refusing to carry a passenger on a flight when they hold a confirmed reservation (before their itinerary was amended without their consent) for any reason other than the passenger failing to present valid travel documentation, failing to show up on time for check-in, or failing to comply with health, safety, or security requirements.
Flight cancellation – failing to operate a flight that was scheduled and had at least one passenger with a confirmed reservation.
Confirmed reservation – a passenger has been given a ticket or other document that indicates the carrier has accepted and registered the reservation.
C-327 also clarifies that the burden is on the carrier to establish the cause of a flight delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding.
Carrier’s Obligations Towards Passengers
The Canada Transportation Act has a list outlining what regulations need to be made surrounding the carrier’s obligations in the event of a delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding. C-327 makes a few changes to these.
First, instead of focusing on if a situation was within the carrier’s control, the focus will now be on situations that aren’t caused by extraordinary circumstances.
Extraordinary circumstances are defined as anything that aren’t inherent to normal operations, were beyond the carrier’s control, could not have been avoided even if the carrier took all reasonable measures, and are not caused, in whole or in party, directly or indirectly, by:
- Acts or omissions of the carrier or any third party they have a contract with
- Flight crew or staff shortages
- Any situation that was known or should have been known at the time of the ticket sale
- Aircraft maintenance or safety issues other than those caused by sabotage or terrorism, or a manufacturing defect identified by the manufacturer
It also would require compensation for any delays/cancellations/etc to be paid automatically without a request for compensation.
C-327 would also make it so regulations can be made regarding the standards of treatment of passengers, as well as the carrier’s obligation to provide timely information to passengers, regardless of the cause of the flight delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding.
Regulations would also be required to outline a carrier’s obligation to provide a passenger who decides not to travel with a refund, using the original method of payment, for the cost of all unused services purchased in connection with the flight regardless of the reason for the delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding.
Finally regulations would need to be established regarding the minimum compensation for delayed baggage. (Compensation for damaged or lost baggage is already covered)
Violations
C-327 also makes some changes to the penalties for failing to comply with the Canada Transport Act.
First up, it greatly increases the maximum fines for people and companies that fail to follow the Act. It will now be $50,000 (up from $5,000) for individuals and $250,000 (up from $25,000) for companies.
Finally C-327 will increase the amount of time for these charges to be placed from twelve months to three years after the day that the offence was committed.
Status
C-327 is currently waiting for its chance at a Second Reading.