Flyers could soon get Air Canada complaints resolved quicker with new pilot project
Air Canada customers still waiting for their complaints filed with the Air Passenger Protection Regulations (APPR) to be addressed may not have to wait much longer.
On Wednesday, the airline announced that it is testing a new pilot of an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process that aims to settle passenger claims for compensation filed under the APPR more quickly.
“Everyone wants a swift and satisfactory resolution when disputes arise over travel disruptions,” stated Marc Barbeau, executive vice president, chief legal officer, and corporate secretary at Air Canada.
“To achieve this, we are proposing the use of ADR in Canada for air travel, an independent, fair and effective method to quickly and fairly resolve air passenger claims that is widely used in Europe.”
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The pilot program is inviting randomly selected customers to volunteer to transfer information from their outstanding Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) claims to an independent and impartial third-party ADR provider that will address their claims within 90 days after information is received from both parties.
Air Canada said that decisions under the pilot program won’t be binding unless customers accept them.
“For customers, based on experience elsewhere, ADR is expected to deliver a fast, impartial, and reasoned response to their claims,” said Barbeau. “For airlines, it has the potential to address customer concerns, bring efficiency and consistency to the process, and reduce issues associated with unresolved claims by shortening the adjudication timeline.”
This announcement comes after the airline was slapped with an over $400,000 fine from the CTA for violating the APPR.
The government agency found that between Aug. 15 and 20, 2025, after flight cancellations it said were outside the carrier’s control, Air Canada “committed multiple violations of the APPR when it failed to, at the passengers’ choice, provide a refund for any unused portion of the ticket, or provide the passenger, free of charge, with a confirmed reservation for the next available flight that is operated by any carrier.”
How the Air Canada pilot project works
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The airline is working with Canada Aviation Dispute Resolution (CADR), an independent firm that specializes in resolving air travel complaints.
Five hundred customers have been invited to volunteer to transfer information from their outstanding APPR complaints currently filed with the CTA directly to CADR.
According to the carrier, customers who agree to take part:
- Can easily agree to their CTA case information and documentation to be automatically transferred electronically to CADR. There is no need to re-enter any data, documents or information.
- A CADR arbitrator will review their documents and Air Canada’s response.
- Customers have an opportunity to reply to Air Canada’s submission.
- A decision will be issued within 90 days of complete information being received from both parties
- All decisions are binding for Air Canada but not for the customer, who can decline the arbitrator’s decision and continue with the regular CTA process.
- There is no cost to participate in the pilot and no impact on the customer’s claims before the CTA.
The pilot program comes amid the CTA’s staggering backlog of 95,000 complaints.