Bill of rights would prevent woes like those experienced by Air Transat travellers
TORONTO — A bill of rights for Canadian travellers would prevent problems like those experienced by Air Transat passengers forced to withstand uncomfortably warm conditions on a flight stuck on an Ottawa runway for six hours this week, the parliamentary secretary to Canada’s Minister of Transport said Wednesday.
Karen McCrimmon said the legislation — Bill C-49 — could become a reality in 2018, and would give consumers a legitimate way to hold airlines accountable in cases of mistreatment.
“We’re giving the consumer more teeth, to be able to say, ‘no these are my rights, and I don’t have to accept being treated this way,”‘ she said in an interview. “It makes it in the airline’s best interest for this not to happen.”
The importance of the bill was highlighted after an Air Transat flight from Brussels that was meant to land in Montreal diverted to Ottawa Monday due to bad weather. A passenger said the plane was grounded for six hours and the cabin grew very hot, with some people having trouble breathing. At one point, a passenger called 911, after which bottles of water were handed out.