New federal regulations will land in July 15th requiring airlines to help and compensate passengers stuck on tarmacs for hours.
According to Canadian Transportation Agency CEO, Scott Streiner, a key component is communication.
“The regulations require that airlines communicate in real time to passengers, including when there’s a delay or cancellation or any other flight disruption, including communicating the reason for that delay that cancellation, the tarmac delay. So airlines are obligated every 30 minutes to provide an update and to tell passengers what’s going on,” said Streiner
The new rules in the government's long-promised passenger bill of rights will also require airlines to provide passengers with washrooms, ventilated cabins, as well as food and water if they are delayed while sitting on a tarmac.
It will also require airlines to pay up to $2,400 for anyone who was denied boarding for situations within an airlines control and up to $2,100 for lost or damaged luggage.
Passengers will have to wait until just before Christmas for rules that require airlines to seat parents beside or near their children, at no extra cost, as well as compensation for cancellations.
It's all in response to a 2017 incident at Ottawa's airport in which two jets sat on a tarmac for six and five hours in sweltering summer heat.