CAA hopes to help air passengers with new travel guide
With nothing but blue skies at the Greater Moncton Romeo LeBlanc International Airport, Tuesday brought forward perfect travel conditions, but not every trip involves such little turbulence.
“Delayed flights are very common,” said Eric Plourd, who flies every two weeks for work.
“Baggage — I’ve had my baggage lost more times than I can count. Usually they’re pretty on point with getting it back, but there’s been times where it’s been up to almost a two-week delay which can be quite frustrating.”
Back in 2019, the Federal Government unveiled a new set of rules to better protect air passengers in Canada, but some experts are calling it confusing and hard to navigate, which is why on Tuesday, CAA released a new online guide to help travellers navigate their rights when it comes to air travel.
“There’s 60 pages and there’s very few people that are going to go through those and actually find out what, if anything, they are owed,” said CAA Atlantic Social Responsibility and Advocacy director, Julia Kent.
“This guide covers the most common issues that we see and in five clicks or less you can get exactly what you are owed and you can find out how to go about obtaining that.”
According to recent polling by CAA, 61 per cent of Canadians say they’ve experienced flight disruptions in the last two years or know someone who has.
Kent says over 80 per cent of Canadians came forward saying they want more transparency when it comes to how airlines are performing including how often they’re on time or how often they lose baggage.
“We really just want the protection to be accessible, easy to use and easy to understand for Atlantic Canadians,” she said.
Kirk Reid travels 10-15 times a year and he says he personally knows about his rights as an air passenger.
“There’s no point in having rights if you don’t actually use them,” he said.
He says it’s a personal responsibility and it should be a cooperative effort between the airlines, carriers and the public.
“Of course I’ve lost bags. Of course flights have been cancelled, whatever, but generally in this case the squeaky wheel does not get the grease,” he said.
“Really, by being honest and nice to people, you usually get taken care of in an appropriate way.”
However, many at the airport on Tuesday didn’t know about passenger rights or where they could turn, outside of the airport, if they were to run into problems.
“As I travel so much, I probably should look into what all my rights are in regards to that,” said Plourd.
Karen Rae was taking her first flight since the pandemic and she wishes the information was more readily available.
“When you go on to book a flight, it tells you all the things you can’t bring and you can’t do and you can’t take and … basically at the airport is the same, but you don’t have anyway to find out what your rights are,” she said.
She recalls one incident where she was stuck on the tarmac for nearly three hours before she was re-boarded onto another plane.
Kent says that according to Statistics Canada, 78.3 million Canadians flew in the second quarter of 2023.
“That’s a lot of people in the air and that’s a lot of people that deserve protection and deserve to know their rights and how they should be treated by airlines, so that’s really want we want. We want people to be treated fairly and we want them to easily understand what their rights are,” she said.
CAA’s new travel guide only focuses on the most common hiccups, such as delays or cancellations, baggage issues or even denied boarding, but it aims to be helpful resource for Canadians everywhere.
“This guide launched (Tuesday) is really great to make it easy to read, simple to understand, plain language and in five clicks or less you can find out what, if anything, you’re owed if you do experience a snafu at the airport,” she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.4972530.1591455178!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
Prince William made $42 million from his newly inherited estate last year, reports show
Newly released financial reports show that William, the Prince of Wales, drew a salary of $42.1 million last fiscal year, his first since inheriting the vast and lucrative Duchy of Cornwall.
WATCH LIVE 'Sick to my stomach': People grieve Jasper National Park by sharing favourite photos
As an out-of-control wildfire roared through Alberta’s famed Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday, many are fearing the worst as officials warned of 'significant loss' within the area.
LIVE UPDATES 'Hopefully it's better than what we're thinking': Jasper wildfire damage details anxiously awaited
Officials are waiting to learn Thursday morning the extent of wildfire damage in the Jasper townsite of Jasper National Park, which flames began to eat away at the night before.
Canadian women's soccer team staffer given suspended prison sentence over drone incident, prosecutor says
A Canada women's soccer team staffer has been given an eight-month suspended prison sentence after flying a drone to film the closed-door training session of the New Zealand team on Monday, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Jennifer Aniston criticizes JD Vance for 'childless cat ladies' remarks: 'I pray that your daughter is fortunate enough to bear children'
Jennifer Aniston is criticizing JD Vance for comments he made in his past about women without children.
Sale of envoy's NYC condo 'expected to exceed' $9M: government
The current official residence for Canada's representative in New York City is 'being readied for sale,' according to a spokesperson from Global Affairs Canada.
WATCH LIVE Jasper wildfire burns buildings, while poor air quality forces some fire crews out
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on social media that Ottawa has approved Alberta's request for federal assistance after a fast-moving wildfire hit Jasper National Park and its townsite late Wednesday.
'I'm so broke': Two Toronto women speak out after losing $76,000 in romance scam
Two women from the Toronto area are speaking out after losing thousands of dollars to a romance scam, including a single mother who lost $62,000.
Barrie-Innisfil MPP 'blacked-out' and crashed car into window of child care centre
Staff at a Barrie child care centre say they are frustrated by what they call a local MPP's inadequate response after a car crashed through a window in one of the toddler rooms.