Ottawa: New regulations on refunds for air passengers are going to come into effect this week. But concerns are being expressed by some experts regarding these new rules.
Since 2019, airlines will have to compensate passengers if the flight is delayed or canceled due to the circumstances that airlines can control on their own under federal rules. Starting from September 8, airlines will have to refund their passengers if the flight is cancelled or the flight is delayed and the second available flight is not booked and delivered to the passengers within 48 hours even when airline is not at the fault.
Tom Oommen, director general of the analysis and outreach branch at the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), which is the a quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator tasked to resolves airlines and customer disputes when the rules are enforced.
Oommen said a gap in the regulations was exposed when the airlines started canceling flights due to the epidemic and refusing to refund the passengers.
He said the fresh regulations will also address other issues including weather delays and labour disputes. However, some experts belive that there is still a lot more to be done and these rules alone will not be enough.
An expert said that there is still 48-hour window that leaves a gap for passengers who may be travelling for short periods of time.