Canada: Airline watchdog ordered to develop new rules for flight cancellation refunds

The federal government is directing the Canadian Transportation Agency to strengthen rules that require airlines to refund passengers for cancelled flights. On Monday, Federal Transport Minister Marc Garneau said the pandemic has highlighted a gap in Canada's protections for airline passengers, which weren't designed to cover such lengthy delays. "In the event of a future situation that causes similar large-scale flight cancellations, this gap needs to be closed so that travellers are treated fairly," Garneau said. Existing CTA rules don't require airlines to offer refunds if they can get passengers to the destination within a reasonable time period -- for example, offering a next-day flight if a snowstorm grounds planes. But passenger advocates say that doesn't work for the indefinite delays ticket-holders currently face and are lobbying the government to mandate that airlines issue cash refunds, rather than travel vouchers, for flights that were cancelled due to COVID-19. At least 3.9m passengers have been affected by cancelled flights due to COVID-19, according to Gabor Lukacs, the founder of Air Passenger Rights, one of the groups advocating for airlines to issue refunds. Scott Streiner, chair and chief executive officer of the CTA, said the agency's goal is to have the new regulations in place by next summer.<br/>