My hero! Lone crusader takes a stand for airline regulation changes

Travel enough and it's inevitable.

Whether it's a multiple-hour delay while you're trapped on the tarmac, luggage that mysteriously vanishes and is never seen again, or a canceled flight that leaves you scrambling for expensive, last-minute accommodations, many of us have experienced the aggravation of airline screw-ups.

And as anyone who has lodged a formal complaint knows, it's the rare Canadian airline that actually steps up to offer fair compensation.

But as the Financial Post reports, frustrated flyers may have a new folk hero.

Gábor Lukács has taken up the cause of airline accountability — and unlike hordes of angry letter-writing customers, he's actually gaining traction.

Lukács, a former math professor, has been labeled the "Phantom of the Airline Industry" for his advocacy work against what he believes to be unfair business practices.

The Canadian Transport Agency would appear to agree. The CTA has ordered three Canadian airlines to offer more substantial recourse to passengers for issues within the carriers' control.

This means Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat will have to pony up over delayed or cancelled flights or if passengers are bumped to later flights.

[ Related: Flight attendant loses cool during five-hour tarmac wait ]

Other victories for Lukács, 29, include a decision that forced WestJet to increase its baggage liability policy to $1,800 from $250 and a ruling that demanded Air Canada take accountability for lost valuables on international flights.

Before Lukács intervened, airlines were able to decide whether to give refunds or rebook flights based on their own discretion.

The new rules will allow passengers to decide whether to accept a refund or take a later flight — even on another airline — at the first airline's expense.

A spokesperson for the CTA told the Post that these new rules would not apply if the delays or cancellations were prompted by weather or security issues. In addition, they will only apply to the three carriers named in the complaint — Porter and Sunwing, not named in the complaint, will be exempt.

Air Canada has been given 45 days to comply, while WestJet and Air Transat have 30 days, as they've already started to adapt the new regulations. All three have 30 days to appeal. As of Thursday, the article notes, the airlines were still "studying the decision."

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Lukács, who entered York University's Ph.D. program in mathematics at age 16, said his reasoning was simple. As a frequent traveler, he was tired of seeing "grown people reduced to tears in minutes" by the way airlines handled canceled or delayed flights.

But it also goes beyond one particular issue for this activist, who cites playwright George Bernard Shaw as his inspiration.

"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people," he said.

While the airline industry may disagree, Canadian flyers certainly owe a measure of gratitude to Lukács particular brand of unreasonableness.