FLIGHT RIGHTS

• Air passengers in Canada are entitled to easy access to information regarding their rights with respect to air transportation services, including but not limited to such things as denied boardings, cancellations, and long delays. Passengers are also entitled to information about services for air travellers with various disabilities.
• Carriers are obligated to make their terms and conditions of carriage easily available to passengers.
• Air transportation regulations specify what elements must be addressed in a carrier’s terms and conditions of carriage.
• Carriers are required to address matters such as compensation for denied boarding as a result of overbooking, delays, cancellations, passenger re-routing, and lost and damaged baggage.
• The terms and conditions of carriage are legally binding on carriers.
• Passengers have recourse to a complaints resolution process that begins with the air carrier. Under this process, passengers should seek direct redress or remedy first from the carrier for any breach of service commitments or obligations.
• Passengers may seek corrective measures or a refund of direct expenses incurred, if they believe an air carrier has not lived up to the commitments in its published tariffs.
• If a complaint is not resolved between a passenger and the air carrier, the passenger can contact the Canadian Transportation Agency at 1-888-222-2592 or by e-mail at info@cta-otc.gc.ca. The Agency is an administrative tribunal with quasi-judicial powers. It is responsible for a wide range of adjudicative and economic matters pertaining to federally regulated air transportation.
• The Agency initially uses an informal approach to manage complaints. If passengers are unsatisfied with the informal process, they can launch a formal complaint to the Agency.

September 2008

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CODE OF CONDUCT OF CANADA’S AIRLINES

Passengers have a right to information on flight times and schedule changes. Airlines must make reasonable efforts to inform passengers of delays and schedule changes and to the extent possible, the reason for the delay or change.

Passengers have a right to take the flight they paid for. If the plane is over-booked or cancelled, the airline must:
a) find the passenger a seat on another flight operated by that airline;
b) buy the passenger a seat on another carrier with whom it has a mutual interline traffic agreement; or
c) refund the unused portion of the passenger’s ticket.

Passengers have a right to punctuality.
a) If a flight is delayed and the delay between the scheduled departure of the flight and the actual departure of the flight exceeds 4 hours, the airline will provide the passenger with a meal voucher.
b) If a flight is delayed by more than 8 hours and the delay involves an overnight stay, the airline will pay for overnight hotel stay and airport transfers for passengers who did not start their travel at that airport.
c) If the passenger is already on the aircraft when a delay occurs, the airline will offer drinks and snacks if it is safe, practical and timely to do so. If the delay exceeds 90 minutes and circumstances permit, the airline will offer passengers the option of disembarking from the aircraft until it is time to depart.

Passengers have a right to retrieve their luggage quickly. If the luggage does not arrive on the same flight as the passenger, the airline will take steps to deliver the luggage to the passenger’s residence/hotel as soon as possible. The airline will take steps to inform the passenger on the status of the luggage and will provide the passenger with an over-night kit as required. Compensation will be provided as per their tariffs.

Nothing in Flight Rights Canada would make the airline responsible for acts of nature or the acts of third parties. Airlines are legally obligated to maintain the highest standards of aviation safety and cannot be encouraged to fly when it is not safe to do so. Similarly, airlines cannot be held responsible for inclement weather or the actions of third parties such as acts of government or air traffic control, airport authorities, security agencies, law enforcement or Customs and Immigration officials.

Flight Rights Canada does not exclude additional rights you may have under the tariffs filed by your airline with the Canadian Transportation Agency, or legal rights that international and trans-border passengers have pursuant to international conventions (e.g., the Warsaw Convention) and related treaties.

Long overdue.

]]> http://www.eyeno.net/2008/09/05/flight-rights-canada/feed/ http://www.eyeno.net/2008/08/31/checking-out-the-old-haunts/ http://www.eyeno.net/2008/08/31/checking-out-the-old-haunts/#comments Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:07:00 +0000 EyeNo http://www.eyeno.net/2008/08/31/checking-out-the-old-haunts/

Spent part of today driving around checking out some of the areas I knew when I lived here over 3 decades ago.

We lived in this house in West Vancouver for a few years.  Looks vastly different than I remember.  Used to be a dark blue as I recall and the door in front of the car used to be the garage door.

After that, it was out along Marine Drive to Horseshoe Bay.  One of the main ferry terminals to the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.  Still as pretty as I remember.

Finally, out to Deep Cove.  Very, very touristy now.

I transferred from the Richmond Inn to the Hilton yesterday.  Much nicer hotel with a great view of the mountains and the airport.  And other things.

Woke up this morning to the sight of a car fire about a block away from the hotel.  Nothing major so I placed a non-emergency call to the fire department.

Speaking of fire, last night’s sunset was pretty.

Was hoping for some nice weather but so far today is coming up cloudy and cool.  Oh well.

Love Vancouver.  Hate being stuck here alone on a long weekend on a business trip.  Don’t get to go home until Wednesday morning.

I’ll be working all day tomorrow and then have 2 days off.  Guess I’ll check out some of the sights over on the North Shore (West and North Vancouver) and if all else fails I’ll walk the seawall at Stanley Park.

I’d much rather be home with Jan.

(picture above taken on the Fraser River near the hotel.  Floatplanes are based here right across from Vancouver International Airport)

ZOOM Airlines pulled the plug today.  Especially sad news as one of my best friends is a Captain.  From their website:

Zoom Airlines sincerely regrets to advise its customers that it has ceased operations with effect from 18:00 UTC on Thursday 28 August.

600 people out of work.  Another lower cost alternative finished. 

Nothing makes a Vancouverite madder than someone saying "it always rains out here".  Well I lived here back in the 60’s and 70’s and I know it doesn’t *always* rain but it comes close some times.  (The above is the view from my balcony at the Richmond Inn).

The flight out here would have been fine except I came down with a migraine headache half way across the country.  A fistful of Advil and a quiet night will hopefully straighten me right out.

Through how air moves (predictably) to the different types of clouds and what they mean to the dangers that weather holds for small aircraft, it’s a fascinating part of the studies. Unfortunately, I’m going to miss the final class next week as I’m off to Vancouver on business. I can make the class up later but I think it’s best to take all 3 in a row so I’ll jump out of the current schedule and pick it up again on a different night.

In the meantime, I’ve picked up a few books on the subject that I’ll read while I’m away.

If you’re interested in the subject, a good place to start is the Cloud Appreciation Society where you’ll find thousands of cloud pictures.

As NASA looks to replacing the aging shuttle fleet, there appears that they might have a serious weight issue.

Their new Ares V cargo launch system will (when combined with the transporter and launch tower)  weigh in at a hefty  10.9 million kg.  The problem is that the crawler road may not take the load.  The shuttle in comparison is "only" 7.7 million kg.

I took this picture when I visited the Kennedy Space Center a few years ago and we’re talking a serious piece of road work here.  6.8 km long and 40 m wide and made up of special river rock, any work to make it capable of bearing a higher load would be very expensive indeed.

Commercial for GE’s new GEnx engine.  Short and creative.

Spanair is owned by SAS and the aircraft was destined for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands.  The Boeing MD-82 (built by McDonnell Douglas) first took to the skies in 1980 and hundreds are still in service, the majority operated by American Airlines. Earlier this year, AA grounded its entire fleet of MD-80 series airplanes to check for hydraulic problems.  Though there is no official word on what caused today’s crash it only makes sense that this one area that will receive special scrutiny.