Discount airlines topped air travel complaints in Canada, says transport agency

After a year when many would-be travellers experienced airports clogged by hours-long lineups for security, only to have their flights delayed and cancelled, or their luggage lost, travelling by plane was an experience in frustration for many in 2022. The reality of that frustration can be seen in new data released by the Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday. The agency, which is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator of transportation, released a new dashboard on the number of complaints airlines received between April and September of 2022. The complaint data is drawn from information submitted by passengers to the CTA. When it comes to Canadian carriers, the results indicate that the CTA received more complaints about discount airlines. Between April and Sept. 2022, the CTA received 13.7 complaints per 100 flights for Flair Airlines, and 12.6 complaints per 100 flights for Swoop Inc. As well, Sunwing Airlines received 8.6 complains per 100 flights, while WestJet received 4.9,and Air Canada received 3.6 per 100 flights. Air Transat had the lowest complaint rate at 2.2 complaints per 100 flights. The CTA also provided data on complaints applying to foreign-operated airlines. The highest number of complaints applied to Qatar Airways, which received 24.1 complaints per 100 flights<br/>