The federal government's Canadian Transportation Agency has launched a new information resource web page to help passengers who are experiencing flight cancellations, delays or lost luggage issues during their travel.
The new "Airport Congestion and Flight Issues" page comes under the CTA's 'Air Passenger Protection' banner.
It offers detailed information about "What passengers need to know about delays, cancellations and missing baggage," including advice for pax to follow, as well as tips about:
- "What you should do, and what your rights are, if your flight is delayed or cancelled; and
- "What you should do, and what your rights are, if your baggage is lost, damaged or delayed."
Tips include making notes about what pax are told by airlines and when, how much time has passed since departure was delayed, ultimate arrival times, and more. It also advises pax about paper trails they should keep in order to resolve issues and claims with airlines.
The passenger portal is the latest effort by the federal government and its agencies to address ongoing issues with congestion, delays, backlogs, lineups and lost luggage at Canada's busiest airports.
News of the passenger resource was included in one of the regular updates provided by the ministers of Transport, Health, Public Safety and Tourism about Ottawa's progress helping resolve the problems plaguing the return to travel.
ArriveCAN Updates "Saving Hours of Processing Time Each Day"
In the same, 06JUL update, the federal government says changes to the ArriveCAN app process are working, including:
Travellers arriving at YYZ or YVR will be able to save time by using the Advance Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) Declaration optional feature in ArriveCAN to submit their customs and immigration declaration in advance of arrival. The government says the feature will be expanded to other airports in the future, including at YUL this summer.
Ottawa has revealed early usage data showing that it is "30 percent faster at the kiosk when travellers use ArriveCAN to declare in advance instead of paper – shaving approximately 40 seconds off a 2-minute transaction. With the thousands of travellers who go through Toronto Pearson International Airport and use the Advance CBSA Declaration option in ArriveCAN, this has the potential of saving hours of processing time each day."
Frequent travellers are also encouraged to take advantage of the "saved traveller" feature in ArriveCAN. It allows a user to save travel documents and proof of vaccination information to reuse on future trips. The information is pre-populated in ArriveCAN the next time the traveller completes a submission, which makes it faster and more convenient.
As of 28JUN, travellers receive a digital handout explaining their entry and post-border requirements based on their ArriveCAN submission so they have "easy and quick access to the latest health and travel measures information."
