Remember that announcement last week about $76 million in federal funding to tackle the backlog of air travel complaints? They're going to need it.
A new report from the Canadian Transportation Agency reveals that the number of unresolved complaints has more than tripled over the past year, currently standing at more than 42,000. At current processing times, that's an 18-month pileup.
Complaints shot up after last summer's chaos at major Canadian airports, and surged again in December when winter storm-driven delays and cancellations left many stranded for days.
In last April's federal budget the CTA got an $11 million boost to battle the backlog, buttressed by the $76 million announced last week. The goal is to hire hundreds of new staff and speed up complaint processing.
In announcing the new funding, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra vowed to close 'loopholes' in passenger rights legislation that allow airlines to deny compensation requests on safety grounds such as unscheduled maintenance or even crew shortages.
Critics want more, including automatic compensation by airlines in the event of significant delays or short-notice cancellations.
Yesterday, NDP Transportation Critic Taylor Bachrach tabled a Private Member's Bill that would bring Canada's Air Passenger Protection Plan more in line with existing European models, which puts more responsibility on airlines to automatically compensate passengers whose travel is disrupted.
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