Bill of Rights Would Prevent Woes Like Those Experienced by Air Transat Travellers

Travellers pick up their luggage at the Ottawa Airport on May 16, 2017. The federal government is introducing legislation for a passenger bill of rights that will set guidelines for how airline passengers are treated. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

TORONTO—A bill of rights for Canadian travellers would prevent problems like those experienced by Air Transat passengers forced to withstand uncomfortably warm conditions on a flight stuck on an Ottawa runway for six hours this week, the parliamentary secretary to Canada’s Minister of Transport says.

Karen McCrimmon said the legislation—Bill C-49—could become a reality in 2018, and would give consumers a legitimate way to hold airlines accountable in cases of mistreatment.

“We’re giving the consumer more teeth, to be able to say, ‘no these are my rights, and I don’t have to accept being treated this way,”’ she said in an interview. “It makes it in the airline’s best interest for this not to happen.”

The importance of the bill was highlighted after an Air Transat flight from Brussels that was meant to land in Montreal diverted to Ottawa on July 31 due to bad weather. A passenger said the plane was grounded for six hours and the cabin grew very hot, with some people having trouble breathing. At one point, a passenger called 911, after which bottles of water were handed out.

It's hard to have a conversation in any place you go ... without having people tell you about their travails with air travel these days. 

— Ken Whitehurst, Consumers Council of Canada