There's a big hullabaloo going on down south.
It all started with a broken guitar.
Dave Carroll's guitar to be exact. In the summer of 2008, the East Coast musician and his band were travelling on United Airlines from Halifax, N.S. to Omaha, Neb., where they were scheduled to perform. While they were sitting at the gate on their connecting flight at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, Carroll looked out the window and saw his $3,500 Taylor guitar getting tossed around by baggage handlers. When he arrived in Omaha, he confirmed his worse fears: The neck on his beloved six-string was split in two.
Carroll called United to register a claim with the airline for the expensive repair of his guitar. He was stunned when the customer service representative told him that there was nothing that the airline could do to help him.
So he responded by writing a protest song called 'United Breaks Guitars' and posting it to YouTube where it went viral.
Since 2008 the song’s video has been viewed more than 18 million times.
That incident, and a number of others like it, have contributed to a rising tide of consumer resentment against airlines among Canadians.
There was the recent example of a grounded Air Canada flight from Ottawa to Toronto that saw passengers waiting on the tarmac for more than four hours as a heat wave outside kept temperatures feeling close to 40 degrees.
And these grievances have been on the rise. According to the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA), in 2016–2017, Canadian air passengers made 3,367 complaints – an increase of more than 300 per cent from the previous year.
All of this griping has finally caused legislators to act.
Last month, the CTA began a three-month consultation process so that passengers could have their say as the federal government drafts a passengers' 'bill of rights' that will be contained in an amended Canada Transportation Act.
It is expected the bill will outline airlines' obligations regarding flight delays and cancellations, tarmac delays, damaged or lost luggage, the seating of children with parents or guardians and the transportation of musical instruments among other things.
As part of the process, the CTA is undertaking a cross-country tour to collect opinions on air-passenger rights, including a stop in Yellowknife last week. Unfortunately, because the organization only advertised on social media and its website, only 12 people showed up. If the meeting was better attended the biggest gripe the agency likely would have heard would have concerned the crushing cost of air travel.
One of the attendees, Donald Weston of North-Wright Airways, alluded to the issue while warning how the new legislation might actually do more harm than good.
For airlines, the North is a difficult place to do business and the proposed changes to the Canadian Transportation Act are unlikely to improve the situation. Legislation that might compel airlines to adhere to certain guidelines up here could be impractical, at best. At worst, they would add to the already astronomical cost of doing business.
Of course if airlines operating in the North are abusing passengers, then regulations the CTA might introduce could be welcome but it seems this new legislation is more intended to satisfy harried holiday travellers in the south, not Northerners waiting for flights in bad weather.
Everyone knows that flying in Canada's North costs a small fortune. The reason for this is supply and demand. The two national carriers -- West Jet and Air Canada -- can charge whatever they want.
That's why it's cheaper to fly from Yellowknife to Hawaii (CAD $1,098 one-way) than from Yellowknife to Rankin Inlet (CAD $1,525 one-way).
In fact, the Aqsarniit Ujauttaq (Northern Lights Gymnastics) of Rankin Inlet have ambitions to attend a gymnastics meet in Austria next year and they need to raise an incredible $150,000 to do it. Most of it will go to airfare.
Without competition, companies have no incentive to lower prices or improve service. The recently announced merger of First Air and Canadian North is unlikely to help matters.
Everyone would appreciate better treatment from airlines but the feds must be careful its bill of rights don't add to the enormous bill Northerners must pay when they purchase an airline ticket.