Air Canada has announced it will trial an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process to settle compensation claims from customers. The limited pilot involves the airline asking randomly selected customers to transfer information from outstanding claims to a third-party ADR provider. The provider chosen for the pilot is the specialist aviation complaint firm Canada Aviation Dispute Resolution (CADR) which is certified in the UK to offer ADR services.
A Swift and Satisfactory Resolution
Once the customer and Air Canada have transferred their claim information to CADR, it will have up to 90 days to give a verdict on the claim. Decisions made under the pilot would be binding on Air Canada but optional for customers, who may accept or reject the outcome.
Marc Barbeau, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Air Canada said:
“Everyone wants a swift and satisfactory resolution when disputes arise over travel disruptions. 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. As a first step, we have designed a limited pilot for a randomly selected group of our customers to transfer information from their [Canadian Transport Agency] CTA claim to ADR without any obligation to accept the result or give up their spot in the CTA’s queue. For customers, based on experience elsewhere, ADR is expected to deliver a fast, impartial, and reasoned response to their claims. 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.”
More Information about the Pilot
500 customers have been invited by Air Canada to participate in the trial. They will not need to reenter any information that has already been provided, as the CTA case information and documentation will be electronically transferred. A CADR adjudicator will review the customer’s information and Air Canada’s response before reaching a decision, which will be legally binding for Air Canada, but not for the customer. If customers decide not to accept the decision of CADR, they can reject the determination and continue with the regular CTA process.
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