Mr. Chair, honourable members, thank you for giving me the opportunity today to speak to you about something very significant that resonates with all Canadians.
My name is Ian Jack. As mentioned, I'm the vice-president of public affairs for our national office in Ottawa. My colleague Jason Kerr joins me today to help answer your questions.
Most of you will be familiar with the CAA brand founded in 1913. We are a federation of eight clubs, today providing more than 6.8 million Canadians coast to coast with emergency roadside service—you all know about the tow truck—but also automotive insurance, rewards and travel services. We're also a not-for-profit that has always advocated on issues of concern to our members.
Through our store network and online, we are one of Canada's largest leisure travel agencies, with close to 100 retail outlets. We are a member-driven organization that, at its heart, is an advocate for the Canadian traveller.
Our travel agents work with air passengers every day, so we understand the business. This allows us to take a strong, informed position in favour of air passenger rights while at the same time recognizing that the consumer interest is best served by a healthy and competitive industry.
When Canada's air passenger protection regulations were originally being developed, CAA called for an efficient and effective regime. We said the process for passengers to claim what they have a right to from the airlines should be simple and proactive. Unfortunately, this is not the case today.
The average passenger in this country does not have the protections that come with premium status or full-fare tickets. The APPR needs to help these passengers most of all and today is missing the mark. The goal of the system should be to incentivize carriers to take care of passengers without the need to resort to the government complaint process. For those cases that do make it to the Canadian Transportation Agency, the process needs to be simple and clear enough that answers can be delivered in a timely manner.
I would like to highlight for you quickly four of our many recommendations to improve the air passenger experience in Canada.
One, the APPR regime does not require direct, immediate payments of compensation to passengers in straightforward, clear-cut cases. If it's obvious that an entire planeload of passengers is owed compensation, the airline should tell all passengers they are owed this compensation and simply ask them how they would like to be paid. The lack of proactive compensation slows a carrier's ability to process other complaints and has helped choked the CTA with an unacceptable backlog.
What do Canadians think of this idea, by the way? Our recent national polling found that 75% of Canadians believe carriers should bear the responsibility for contacting passengers to deliver compensation for a flight interruption.
Two, the minister should have clear authority to refer matters to the CTA for investigation and should also have the ability to make orders affecting the air sector generally under extraordinary circumstances. We would expect these sticks to be used rarely, but their presence would likely affect behaviour.
Three, maximum and minimum AMP limits should replace the discretionary system in place today, and for repeated offences, applicable AMPS should automatically increase.
Four, there should be public reporting of performance by carriers and others in the system. Transparency will allow passengers, parliamentarians and advocates to judge how well the air system in Canada is functioning for passengers. Carriers are supposed to deal with complaints within 30 days. What's their success rate? How many cases do they accept or reject? How many bags were lost in the last quarter? None of us knows. We should.
Players in the system have this data. In the U.S., many of these statistics are published month by month online, and airlines compete against each other in these areas. This translates into better service and treatment for travellers.
Mr. Chair, I will stop here.
We welcome your questions.
Once again, thank you very much for inviting me to appear before you today.