New rules in US could lead to Cdn Passengers Bill of Rights
Posted April 20, 2011 11:13 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – If they can do it, so can we. Tough new airline regulations in the US may give the Canadian Passengers Bill of Rights its long-awaited green light.
Winnipeg-area New Democrat MP Jim Maloway is encouraged by the US Department of Transportation‘s Passenger Protections Rule, which he says goes even further than his defeated private members bill. “It helps my case a lot because, in some respects, their penalties are more harsh, more severe, than my compensation requirements.”
The US rules include fining airlines $27,500 per passenger if a flight is on the tarmac longer than three hours. Maloway thinks travellers should be compensated instead.
“The passenger who has been stuck on the airplane for extended periods of hours would rather have $100 an hour in his or her pocket than a $27,000 fine to the airline, payable to the Government of Canada,” he argues.
If re-elected, Maloway plans to re-submit the bill once Parliament resumes.
