Lost luggage? New Air Passenger Protection Regulations can help
Compensation for a lost or damaged bag has increased to $2,100
Travelling by air in the North? New Air Passenger Protection Regulations may help you, if, for example, your bags are lost or damaged. (File photo)
If things go wrong on your next flight, you may find some help from the new Air Passenger Protection Regulations.
These regulations, some of which came into effect on July 15, are intended to provide clearer and more consistent air passenger rights.
They impose certain minimum requirements on airlines, such as standards of treatment and, in some situations such as where bags are lost or damaged, compensation for passengers.
The regulations set out airlines’ obligations to passengers in the following areas:
- Communication
- Delayed or cancelled flights
- Denied boarding
- Tarmac delays
- The seating of children under the age of 14
- Lost or damaged baggage
- The transportation of musical instruments
But some of the regulations are not yet in force.
Still, since July 15, the airlines have been required to meet the new obligations concerning communication, denied boarding, tarmac delay, lost or damaged baggage and the transportation of musical instruments.
The remaining obligations come into effect on Dec. 15.
The current obligation that is likely to have the greatest effect on northern air passengers: the airlines will be held liable for up to $2,100 for baggage that is lost or damaged during domestic flights.
But to get that money, you will have to file a claim for expenses with the airline.
For damaged baggage, you will have to submit the claim within seven days after you receive the baggage.
For potentially lost baggage, your claim must be submitted within 21 days after the day it was supposed to arrive.
With respect to communication, the regulations now also require that passengers be informed of their rights in a “timely, clear and accessible way.”
This means airlines will have to provide you with information in simple, clear and concise language on their terms and conditions of carriage for flight delays or cancellations, denial of boarding, lost or damaged baggage, and the seating of children under 14 years of age.
Airlines will be required to keep you regularly informed if there is a flight disruption, such as flight and tarmac delays, flight cancellations, and denials of boarding.
And they will have to tell you why the flight has been disrupted as soon as is feasible.
Airlines will also have to provide flight status updates every 30 minutes until a new departure time has been confirmed.
The regulations are intended to ensure that passengers are properly treated during delays when they are sitting in the plane on the tarmac.
As of Dec. 15, airlines will also be required to pay passengers compensation for flight delays or cancellations that are in the airlines’ control and not related to safety.
Passengers will be entitled to compensation based on the length of the delay.
First Air will be bankrupt in 2 years if they honour this!
any clarification on the *The transportation of musical instruments* would be good, or can someone provide a link to this?
wow Calmair/first air is notoriously bad for not informing passengers in a timely basis when there is flight delays and the cause of it. passengers wait all day at airports. Where exactly do you report them. Is that really going to change things?Terrible customer service with consistently giving wrong information about flight arrivals etc…not notifying passengers with new time departures etc
Contrary to what some people think, airlines do not lose your baggage on purpose, and they would love to inform you exactly when a delayed flight is going to depart, however they often don’t know.
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Unfortunately this is a one size fits all approach which does not take into account the realities of the north, especially when it comes to delays.
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For delays in the north many are due to weather which is out of the airline’s control. Believe it or not airlines must often operate on forecast weather, and the forecasts in the north suck. For any flight an airline must plan to be able to flight to the destination and if they are not able to land have enough fuel to fly to an alternate destination where the weather is forecast to be good enough to land when they arrive, and then have a minimum of 45 minutes of fuel left. Given the distances in the north many times a flight cannot operate because of bad weather at an alternate airport, even if the destination is good. It is especially irksome when the weather at the alternate is better than forecast yet the forecast is not updated to take this into account.
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As a FYI almost every community in the north is located on the coast next to the Arctic ocean, ideal conditions for low cloud and fog for 4 to 6 months of the year.
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This is just one problem. Also to be considered are the limited number of aircraft available, and increasingly strict duty days for pilots. Add in the cold which increases the likelihood of parts breaking or electronics malfunctioning and it is actually remarkable how well Canadian North and First Air operate.
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This is little comfort to you when you are sitting in an airport waiting to get home, but the airlines are doing their best to get you there safely and as soon as possible.
Trapper… although you like to write long-winded responses about the history of airlines in the North. Can you explain how luggage doesn’t make it from point A to point B? No one is reading the baggage stickers, no one cares to, there is no attention paid to detail, no answers given, and calls aren’t fielded and when they are they’re deflected?? If I travel from Cape Dorset to Iqaluit… there is no reason that my bag should end up in the Kitikmeot region… is there? Pure negligence, a lack of accountability, absenteeism, apathy, lethargy, disorganization, unprofessionalism, and a lack of quality control come to mind. Nothing about fog or any other weather condition. Atlantic Canada, just south of NU, experiences as much fog as anywhere in the world due to the warm, Gulf Stream meeting the cold, Labrador current. I have no issues with lost, stolen, damaged, and/or inexplicable re-routing of luggage while there or traveling through/from there.
OMG! why be toxic?
We are finally receiving positive support, this is only the beginning, why be so foul?
They are trying their best to assist us, I’m sure the Board worked so hard to retrieve this new air passenger protection regulations, I applause the hard workers.
upigusrkungali tunijaugatta – I am proud that, we are offered!
uqausilirluiit taimangngat nuiititausuut – toxic comments always comes next!
If you want to file a complaint, why not directly deal with airlines! Just be grateful!