Airlines ordered to compensate passengers in 50% of recent air travel complaint rulings, data shows

Half of all airline passenger disputes resolved by Canada's transport regulator over a recent nine-month period have resulted in wins for passengers. According to CBC News analysis of newly available data, Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) officers ordered airlines to compensate or refund passengers in 50% of the 9,740 cases they resolved between Sept. 30, 2023, and June 30. In most (72.6%) of the rulings favouring the passenger, airlines were ordered to pay compensation for flight disruptions. In the rest, carriers had to reimburse customers for added expenses, or refund flights. In each case, CTA officers issued the ruling after the airline had denied a passenger's claim, and the passenger and the airline failed to resolve the matter. "Half of [the passengers] were right, that they should have been paid and the airlines were wrong," said John Gradek, lecturer and co-ordinator of the aviation management program at McGill University in Montreal. The airlines, he said, "are playing a little fast and loose" with the rules. <br/>