Federal officials have announced no action against airlines in a year of unprecedented cancellations, including one that cancels or delays half its flights.
The Department of Transportation and Jazz Aviation did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, Air Canada said it recently reduced some flight schedules and is committed to making improvements.
"I would just say they blew it in terms of forecasting the staff they needed," Guzzetti said."They saw the crushing demand and said, 'Let's try to meet this demand.'" Those flights' records come close to or exceed what the DOT has listed as examples of"unrealistic and deceptive scheduling," which is prohibited under U.S. regulations. Officials said in a 2009 update to the rule that it could include"a flight that is canceled 30 percent of the time for a sustained period of time."
None of Air Canada's Jazz Aviation flights have been chronically delayed for four consecutive months, the analysis found, but several may soon be. Only 38 of the 380 U.S. Jazz flights scheduled between April and July were flying for that entire period. Of the 125 flights that have been flying since May, 51 were chronically delayed in May, June and July. Of the 57 Jazz flights operating since June, 43 were chronically delayed in June and July.
That was not the case in 2020, when the department issued two enforcement notices to all airlines threatening action if they did not offer prompt, full refunds to the original form of payment for the many flights canceled because of COVID-19. Initially, many airlines were only offering vouchers for future travel, which the DOT has long said is illegal.
Guzzetti, who oversaw audits of the DOT's office of aviation consumer protection, said even in normal times the office's small staff likely has to prioritize some investigations over others given their limited resources and how labor-intensive investigations of airlines can be. He said the onslaught of COVID-19 refund complaints only underscores those points.
"Air Canada has committed to continuing its work with all third parties to further stabilize and improve all aspects of the air transport ecosystem," the statement said. Unlike with E.U. cash compensation rights, Lukács said too many cancellation circumstances are exempted under Canadian regulations, including some maintenance issues and airport operations disruptions. Canadian regulations also don't guarantee a refund to the original form of payment for many canceled flights, unlike in the U.S. or the E.U."If it is just bad press, nothing is going to change," Lukacs said.
The many cancellation notices Yoon received for his disrupted trip to Montreal all gave the same explanation:"The impacts of COVID-19."
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