Local activist glad for progress on airline passenger rights, but wants more info

An advocate for airline passenger rights in Newfoundland and Labrador is glad to see progress from the federal government, but says he'll save his celebrations until after he gets a good look at the bill.

"Listening to the minister say there has to be better communications, well, that [has] obviously gotta happen," Woodrow French, who has been advocating for passenger rights for about 13 years, told the St. John's Morning Show.

"All we're asking for is just common good service that should be provided by the airlines to the people that travel."

The proposed regulations designed to protect airline passengers were released by Transport Minister Marc Garneau Monday, and have been in the works for more than two years.

Next comes several rounds of consultations. Garneau said he expects the regulations to become law in the summer.

The wait for changes has been a difficult part of his advocacy work, said French, the former mayor of Conception Bay South.

"The hardest part for me has been listening to politicians that were making promises that things were going to improve," he said.

"And it's really amazing that since 2006, here we are in 2018 and we're still talking about the same problems."

'I won't fly without having a travel agent'

French first got involved in passenger rights advocacy more than a decade ago, right at this time of year — one when many people are travelling.

"When I was the mayor of Conception Bay South, I had a call from a lady one morning telling about her daughter that got a flight that was terminated in Halifax instead of St. John's," he said.

"And she was basically left on her own and was told that the earliest flight that she could get out to St. John's would have been some time in the new year, which certainly spoiled her Christmas."

At the time French had recently joined the board of directors for the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and he thought his new platform might make it possible to help people with this issue.

Since then, French said he's heard from many people dealing with issues like oversold planes, people being bumped from flights, and a lack of compensation for cancelled travel plans and time spent waiting in airports.

"It's gotten to the point with me now, anyhow, that I won't fly without having a travel agent and making sure that all my things are in place so that once I get to a certain area I pick up the phone, I phone one number, and somebody looks after me, hopefully," he said.

He hopes the proposed regulations will change things, but French said he is waiting to see the specifics and what consequences look like for airlines.

The ministry said the proposed rules include measures like an obligation to provide food and accommodations to passengers when flights are delayed and compensation when passengers are involuntarily bumped from a flight. Critics like NDP MP Brian Masse said the regulation could be improved by including measures like minimum compensation for flight delays and lost baggage.

French also hopes the regulations get specific — for example, requiring airlines to specify what kind of mechanical issue is delaying a flight — and they will hold airlines accountable.

"To me," he said, "if a company is in business to provide a service then the onus is on the company to provide the service to you."

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