COVID-cancelled flight complaints soar to record levels

Canadian airlines’ refusal to pay cash refunds on flights cancelled by COVID-19 has led to a whopping 26,000 complaints to federal regulations, says Blacklock’s Reporter. The Canadian Transportation Agency in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons said from the outbreak of the pandemic on March 11, 2020 to last December 31 it received a total 25,770 passenger complaints. Canadian airlines’ refusal to pay cash refunds on flights cancelled by COVID-19 has led to a whopping 26,000 complaints to federal regulations, says Blacklock’s Reporter. The Canadian Transportation Agency in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons said from the outbreak of the pandemic on March 11, 2020 to last December 31 it received a total 25,770 passenger complaints. The overwhelming majority, some 25,001 complaints, concerned cancelled flights and other disruptions resulting from pandemic bans on non-essential travel. The backlog of complaints was extensive, wrote staff. “The total number of air travel complaints received, but not yet handled by an agency case officer is 11,152,” said the Inquiry. Travelers who formally complained of breaches of Air Passenger Protection Regulations faced long waits to have their cases heard, eight months on average, said the inquiry. “On average the amount of business days it effectively takes from the filing of a complaint to an officer being assigned to the case, broken down by process, is 170 business days by facilitation process,” wrote staff.<br/>