Miscellaneous Consumer Protection Legal Information (11:VIII): Difference between revisions

Passengers on aircraft recently received an additional set of legal protections in the cases of delayed flights, denied boarding, children under 14 travelling with or without family, and musical instrument transportation. The ''Air Passenger Protection Regulations'' SOR/2019-150 [APPR] under the ''Canada Transportation Act'' went into effect with some protections entering into force on July 15th, 2019 and fully entering force on December 15th, 2019. There are also differences in the requirements for a large carrier (defined as carrying over 2 million people worldwide per year for the past 2 years) and a small carrier. The information below applies to large carriers, and small carriers have similar but slightly different obligations. Please see the regulation itself for more information.

*Flight delay, flight cancellation and denial of boarding;

*Lost or damaged baggage; and

*The assignment of seats to children who are under the age of 14 years

Available in simple, clear and concise language (APPR s 5(1)). Additionally, they need to provide this information (or a hyperlink to this information) on all digital platforms that they use to sell tickets and on all documents on which the passenger’s itinerary appears (APPR s 5(2)).

In the airport, the carrier is required to display signage indicating that passengers have certain rights under the APPR in the case of lost/damaged baggage or denied boarding.

There are additional requirements on the carriers and sellers of tickets for air travel in terms of advertisement (APPR s 25-31). Please see the regulation for more information.

In the case of a delay, the carrier is also required to give status updates every 30 minutes until a new departure time is set or alternative travel arrangements have been made.

The carrier is not at fault in situations such as weather conditions that render safe operation impossible, instructions from air traffic control, a medical emergency, a labour disruption within the carrier, illegal acts or sabotage, a collision with wildlife, or a security threat. It also includes a delay, cancellation or denial of boarding that is directly attributable to an earlier delay or cancellation caused by something outside of the control of the carrier where the carrier took all reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the earlier delay or cancellation. These are merely examples and other situations could potentially be classified as not within the control of the carrier (APPR s 10).

This table below sets out the benefits that must be provided to passengers in the event of a delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding (APPR ss 10-21):

In the case of compensation for delay, cancellation, or a refund, compensation needs to be applied for to the carrier before the first anniversary of the day on which the flight delay or flight cancellation occurred.

#[the carrier] offers compensation in another form that has a greater monetary value than the minimum monetary value of the compensation that is required under these Regulations;

#the passenger has been informed in writing of the monetary value of the other form of compensation;

#the other form of compensation does not expire; and

#the passenger confirms in writing that they have been informed of their right to receive monetary compensation and have chosen the other form of compensation.

In the case where a passenger’s class of ticket changes on an alternate travel arrangement made by the carrier because of a delay, cancellation, or denial of boarding, the carrier may not charge an additional fee if alternate travel arrangements are of a higher class and, if the carrier was at fault for the delay cancellation or denial of boarding, must compensate the passenger the difference in the ticket cost if the alternate travel arrangement is of a lower class. To the extent possible, the carrier must provide services that are comparable to those of the original ticket.

When a passenger is denied boarding in a case where the carrier is at fault (even if it is done for safety reasons), there is a procedure in place for determining who is to be denied boarding (APPR s 15):

#The air carrier must ask all passengers if they would be willing to give up their seat, and cannot deny boarding to a passenger until it has done so

#The carrier must not deny boarding to a passenger that is already on the aircraft, unless it is required for safety reasons

#If any passenger(s) must be denied boarding, the carrier must start by denying boarding to passengers that fall into the lowest category on this list that contains passengers who are still entitled to board the plane (in other words, this is the priority list for boarding):

##an unaccompanied minor;

##a person with a disability and their support person, service animal, or emotional support animal, if any;

##a passenger who is travelling with family members; and

##a passenger who was previously denied boarding on the same ticket.

##all other passengers

There are additional protections in place if a delay occurs while waiting on the ground in the aircraft either before take-off or after landing. Once there is a delay, the air carrier is required to provide access to the following, free of charge [APPR s 8(1)]:

#if the aircraft is equipped with lavatories, access to those lavatories in working order;

#proper ventilation and cooling or heating of the aircraft;

#if it is feasible to communicate with people outside of the aircraft, the means to do so; and

#food and drink, in reasonable quantities, taking into account the length of the delay, the time of day and the location of the airport.

#If urgent medical assistance is required, the carrier must facilitate access to that assistance

In addition, after 3 hours of delay on the ground the carrier must provide an opportunity for the passengers to disembark provided that it is not likely for take-off to occur in less than 45 minutes (APPR s 9).

In the case where baggage is lost (even temporarily) or damaged, the carrier must provide compensation of up to $2,100 (see the regulation) and a refund of any baggage fees (APPR s 23).

By December 15th, 2019,  

The carrier must facilitate the assignment of a seat to a child who is under the age of 14 years by offering, at no additional charge,

*in the case of a child who is four years of age or younger, a seat that is adjacent to their parent, guardian or tutor’s seat;

*in the case of a child who is 5 to 11 years of age, a seat that is in the same row as their parent, guardian or tutor’s seat, and that is separated from that parent, guardian or tutor’s seat by no more than one seat; and

*in the case of a child who is 12 or 13 years of age, a seat that is in a row that is separated from the row of their parent, guardian or tutor’s seat by no more than one row (APPR s 22).

The carrier must compensate the passenger for the difference in ticket cost if the seat assigned to the child is of a lower class, and may ask for additional payment equal to the difference in ticket price if the passenger chooses a seat that is higher class than the ticket.