Canada: Airline bill of rights aims to prevent woes like those experienced by Air Transat travellers

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 6 hours this week, the parliamentary secretary to Canada’s minister of transport said Wednesday. 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. McCrimmon said the upcoming bill of rights would lay out the basic standards airlines must adhere to, as well as the compensation passengers are entitled to if airlines don’t abide by the rules. <br/>