With air travel getting busier these days. and competition, getting tighter, airline companies are trying to maintain their profitability by squeezing as many people in a flights as possible, charging for things that used to be free and overbooking. Consequently airline passenger complaints have increased 10 fold over the last five years. The question is whether the increase in complaints may be because consumers are becoming more aware on what kind of recourse they have when confronted with poor service or standards or if the quality of service is actually starting to decline. Canadian Industry experts do not believe that service has remarkably gotten worse. In the age of social media, customers are more connected to where they can find information to voice their grievances and take action.
As a passenger, do you know what your rights are? This is a great web site to educate yourself.
https://airpassengerrights.ca/en/
Air Passenger Rights is a non-profit web site run by volunteers. I will put a permanent link on our web site. Below are a couple of snap shots of how the number of air travel related complaints have increased over the years. You can also visit the Canadian Transportation Agency to submit a complaint.
Year | Total Air Travel Complaints Filed |
2017-2018 |
5500 |
2016-2017 |
3636 |
2015-2016 |
1062 |
2014-2015 |
1107 |
2013-2014 |
1019 |
2012-2013 |
583 |
Source: Canadian Transport Agency |
Issues – All Carriers | |||||
YEARS | 2017-2018 | 2016-2017 | 2015-2016 | 2014-2015 | 2013-2014 |
Flight disruptions | 2657 | 1325 | 495 | 635 | 568 |
Baggage | 1517 | 968 | 276 | 308 | 281 |
Issues outside the Agency’s jurisdiction | 1036 | 518 | 275 | 91 | 406 |
Ticketing | 362 | 334 | 106 | 111 | 136 |
Refusal to transport | 359 | 382 | 114 | 122 | 170 |
Reservations | 286 | 159 | 71 | 78 | 172 |
Denied boarding | 159 | 135 | 55 | 50 | 82 |
Fares | 26 | 49 | 14 | 11 | 105 |
Other | 22 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 69 |
Total | 6424 | 3884 | 1406 | 1406 | 1920 |
Source: Canadian Transport Agency
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