Mechanical failures, ineffectual passenger rights legislation and limited competition keep us grounded.
After travelling last week to and from western Canada and the United States for a family function, I can attest to the challenges and uncertainty of airline travel in this country, often leaving passengers scrambling, putting a damper on travel and vacations.
In the middle of the night before our morning direct flight back from Seattle to Montreal, we all received a text from Air Canada. The airline was sorry, but our flight was cancelled “because of an earlier mechanical issue with the scheduled aircraft.” So we were rebooked on connecting red-eye flights 16 hours later, to arrive the next day.
Having intended to be back at work that day, two of us scrambled for alternatives, found two remaining seats on earlier flights transferring in Vancouver and scurried to the airport. Just before taking off for Vancouver, though, another text from Air Canada informed us the flight from Vancouver to Montreal was also cancelled — sorry — because of “an unexpected maintenance issue with the aircraft.”
The rebooked flights for the next morning had to deplane twice to other aircraft because of air conditioning and other issues. Maddening, to say the least.
There are refund regulations for flights that are cancelled or have long delays. Compensation categories are established based on times of delay. The airline is obliged to provide information about why your flight was delayed or cancelled, which could affect compensation, but how do you ascertain if the information is accurate?
At the start of our trip, the departing flight from Montreal on another airline was delayed for three hours, also attributed to “unscheduled aircraft maintenance.” If the nearly identical blanket explanations for all these delays and cancellations are in fact true, Transport Canada should be very worried and enforce stricter proactive maintenance standards.
Critics of Alghabra’s proposed legislation said the changes didn’t go far enough. Unfortunately, even if the government increases fines to encourage better service delivery and/or increases compensation for passengers, airlines will probably mercilessly increase prices. We’ve already seen prices soaring faster than a 747 since the COVID pandemic.
Furthermore, once the ordeal and the stress of the situation have passed, many will just not bother following the complicated process of filing a claim. It’s like being in excruciating pain but once it’s over, you forget the pain itself. Many women go through childbirth more than once; people get back on skis even if they’ve broken a leg skiing.
Based on my recent travels, it would seem vacations without disruptions or delays may be the exception, with passenger rights legislation still ineffectual. We’re at the mercy of limited competition and no matter what the government tries to do, it’s bound to be a crapshoot every time we head for the airport.