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Air travel complaints backlog could soar to 126,000 by 2028
Air travel complaints backlog could soar to 126,000 by 2028

CBC

time23-06-2025

  • Politics
  • CBC

Air travel complaints backlog could soar to 126,000 by 2028

Social Sharing Alex Laferrière was so frustrated by the treatment he, his wife and infant son received from Air Canada when their flights were delayed last July that he filed a complaint with the airline regulator. But he was even more disturbed to learn that the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has a backlog of complaints — over 87,000 — and it could take over two years for his case to be resolved "I thought, are you joking?" said Laferrière, from his home in Sturgeon Falls, Ont. "That delay is completely unreasonable." And now, new data obtained under Access to Information and provided to Go Public shows that backlog could increase dramatically — by as much as 45 per cent by 2028. "That's absolute nonsense," said Laferrière. "The system seems broken." An air passenger advocate agrees, and blames lengthy delays on the CTA's method of adjudicating complaints. "The system is way too complicated," said Gábor Lukács, founder of Air Passenger Rights. "It requires an unreasonable amount of resources to deal with each complaint." The CTA is an independent, quasi-judicial agency that reports to Parliament through Minister of Transport Chrystia Freeland. A spokesperson for Freeland said in a statement that the waitlist "must be addressed" and that the government is working to improve air passenger protections. Data regarding the backlog was obtained through Access to Information by public policy researcher Ken Rubin, who asked the CTA to project the number of complaints passengers will submit over the next three years. It provided low-, mid- and upper-range projections for 2025-26, 2026-27 and 2027-28, based on forecasting done in May 2023. WATCH | Lengthy delays at CTA: In an email to Go Public, a spokesperson said the projections were, in part, "based on historical complaint volumes" but that the number of complaints has "continued to increase year over year," so the predictions could be low. Using the best-case prediction — which assumes the number of complaints filed drastically drops and the CTA continues to close them at its most recent rate — the backlog could decrease to 63,763 by 2028. But complaint volumes have been increasing since the CTA did its forecast. Using the worst-case projections, by 2028 the backlog could reach 126,000 — an increase of 45 per cent. That means disgruntled passengers could be left waiting well over three years for a decision. "I work in customer service at a credit union," said Laferrière. "If I told someone they have to wait 36 months for a mortgage, that would not be acceptable." What's causing the backlog? Lukács says the problem is that complaints about flight disruptions are broadly categorized into three groups: situations within the airline's control, situations within the airline's control but required for safety, and situations outside the airline's control. "We have an unnecessarily and disproportionately complex regime," said Lukács. "Which necessitates an extraordinary amount of evidence and a disproportionate amount of judicial time to decide whether compensation is owed." Lukács advocates adopting the European Union's system, where airlines can only avoid paying compensation under "extraordinary circumstances" — which do not include maintenance, many safety issues and staffing shortages. "In the vast majority of cases, eligibility becomes a very quick administrative task that can be done by people with very basic training," said Lukács. Call for harsher penalties The other issue, says Lukács, is the lack of steep penalties when airlines refuse to compensate passengers who are clearly owed compensation and are then forced to file with the CTA. In one example reported on Lukács's Air Passenger Rights Facebook page, a WestJet passenger's flight was delayed over seven hours but the airline denied her compensation, claiming it was a safety issue. When the CTA investigated and requested evidence, the airline didn't provide any and eventually paid the $700 owed under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations. "There is no incentive for the airline to pay a perfectly valid legitimate claim under the rules," said Lukács. "Even where the airline has no evidence to support its position, they're just going to refuse to pay because most passengers may not have the stamina to pursue their case." Laferrière says he knows four other people who experienced the same flight delays as his family, but none filed CTA complaints. "Everyone said, 'Good luck. We're not going to waste our time with this,'" he said. Any penalties "should ensure that it becomes less profitable to break the law than to comply with the law," said Lukács. "The purpose is fostering compliance." Slow to implement cost recovery scheme In 2023, the federal government called on the CTA to implement a cost-recovery mechanism, which would force airlines to contribute to the cost of the complaint resolution process. The CTA proposed charging airlines $790 for each eligible complaint closed by the agency. Lukács says the penalty should be significantly higher, but payable only when "the complaint is found to have at least some merit." The cost-recovery plan has yet to be implemented, despite the CTA chair and CEO France Pégeot's saying one would be in place by the end of last year. A CTA spokesperson said there is no date set for the fee to be enacted. Since the CTA began consulting on the proposal last September, WestJet has met with various government officials at least 17 times to discuss, among other things, the CTA's "cost recovery proposals," lobbying records show. Air Canada has also lobbied government officials more than 20 times since last fall, but its monthly lobbying reports are less specific than WestJet's, listing only "transportation" or "aviation related policies, legislation and regulations" as the topics discussed. Two years ago, Ottawa designated almost $76 million to improve the complaints resolution process, yet the backlog has steadily increased. The government is in the process of updating the regulations — but Lukács says the proposed changes will define the vast majority of flight delays and cancellations as "exceptional circumstances" so no compensation will be owed. "It's just rebranding the same old broken system," said Lukács. Until that happens, Lukács doesn't recommend frustrated air passengers turn to the CTA — instead, he encourages them to file complaints in small claims court. Laferrière says, even though it's already been almost a year since he filed his complaint with the CTA, he's going to stick it out — curious to see when his case will be heard. He says it's "frustrating" to see taxpayer dollars fund an agency that doesn't seem accountable.

Suspects in violent home invasion in northern Ont. go free
Suspects in violent home invasion in northern Ont. go free

CTV News

time26-05-2025

  • CTV News

Suspects in violent home invasion in northern Ont. go free

Two people charged almost four years ago in connection with a home invasion in Sturgeon Falls have had their cases thrown out because the Crown took too long to bring the matter to trial. In all, four people were charged in connection with the July 15, 2021, incident and lawyers for two of them -- Nicholas Aaron Martin and MacKenzie Doyle – argued successfully that their clients' right to a speedy trial had been violated. A big issue, ruled Superior Court Justice Gregory Ellies, was the Crown's decision to try all four defendants at the same time, making scheduling too big an obstacle and leading to delay after delay. Total delay of 52.6 months The suspects were charged by the Ontario Provincial Police on July 16, 2021, and the trial was scheduled to begin in November of this year and be completed around Dec. 15. That would have been 52.6 months, more than 22 months beyond the maximum of 30 months criminal cases must come to court in Canada. The Crown argued that it wasn't responsible for much of the delay because of the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the difficulty of coordinating schedules for all the defendants. In addition to Martin and Doyle, Jordan Dustin Cayer and Randy Allen were also charged with the case. All but Martin were eventually freed on bail. Martin has been in custody since he was arrested until the case was dismissed last December. 'His detention was continued following a contested bail hearing held on Oct. 4, 2021, and a bail review held in February 2022,' Ellies wrote in his decision, released earlier this month. 'He remained in custody until I stayed the charges against him on Dec. 20, 2024.' While the total delay had the case proceeded would have been 52.6 months, any delay caused by the defence or beyond the control of the Crown must be deducted from the total. That net delay must not exceed 30 months, under what is known as the Jordan principle. Pandemic contributed to delays The Crown argued that, in addition to delays caused by the pandemic, delays caused by any of the four defendants should be deducted from the total. 'I am unable to agree,' Ellies wrote. The decision detailed each delay, often caused by the lawyer of one of the defendants not being available on a certain day, then another lawyer not being available on another day. At one point, one defendant changed lawyers, causing more delays. While Ellies accepted some of the Crown's arguments regarding delays caused by the defence, he wrote that by Dec. 2, 2022, the complexity of trying all four suspects together had become clear. By then, the judge said, 'the time had come for the Crown to reconsider proceeding against the accused jointly.' After a few stops and starts, the preliminary hearing in the case began in April 2023. By then, Rogers' case had been severed from the other three defendants. 'The time had come for the Crown to reconsider proceeding against the accused jointly.' — Superior Court Justice Gregory Ellies The hearing resumed in August, but only lasted for 15 minutes. Two of the suspects had not been brought to court on time for the hearing. It started without them present, but only briefly. 'The Crown advised the court that two or three of the police officers she expected to call as witnesses were 'off sick' and that they might not be returning to work at all,' the court decision said. 'She also told the court that another officer was on annual leave. As a result, the Crown was only able to call one witness that day, another police officer whose evidence related only to the continuity of the evidence seized at the time of the arrest of the plaintiffs.' Criminal cases surged by 46% The preliminary hearing resumed on Oct. 18, 2023, but two of the officers were still unavailable. Further delays followed, Ellies wrote, and the situation was complicated by a surge in criminal cases in the region since the pandemic. 'Between 2019 and 2020, there was a drop in the number of new criminal cases in … in the northeast region,' the judge said. 'However, between 2020 and 2023, the number of new criminal cases commenced … in the northeast region increased by approximately 46 per cent.' While the Crown argued the rise in the number of criminal cases was a circumstance beyond its control, Ellies wrote that 'the Crown (bears) responsibility for the failure to fill a much-needed judicial vacancy in a region suffering from a gradual, but alarming, increase in crime.' While determining who is responsible for judicial delay 'is not an exact science,' Ellies calculated that the net delay in this case was 37.5 months, well beyond the 30-month limit. 'Therefore, the applications must be allowed and the charges stayed against each of the applicants,' he ruled. Read the full decision here.

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