Complaint Forms Available:

• Air Travel Complaint Form

  • Disability-related complaint form

• Failure to give Notice of a Discontinuance or Reduction of a Domestic Air Service to a Community

• Case Status: Enquiries

Privacy Statement - Agency's Complaint Process

Open Court Principle

As a quasi-judicial tribunal operating like a court, the Canadian Transportation Agency is bound by the constitutionally protected open-court principle. This principle guarantees the public's right to know how justice is administered and to have access to decisions rendered by administrative tribunals.

In accordance with the values of the open court principle and pursuant to the Canadian Transportation Agency General Rules, all information filed with the Agency becomes part of the public record and may be made available for public viewing. The names of parties and witnesses involved in a complaint are public.

Agency Process

Information provided to the Agency will be used to investigate complaints and a copy of the complaint will be forwarded to the transportation service provider for comments.  

In some instances, the Agency may process complaints together where similar issues have been raised. In such circumstances, information provided to the Agency on each of the complaints may be distributed to parties in the other complaints.

If a complaint is dealt with pursuant to the Agency's formal process, a decision will be issued that contains a summary of the complaint, a summary of other information provided during the pleadings and an analysis of the case, along with the Agency's determination and any corrective action deemed necessary by the Agency.

Publication on Web Site

The decision will be posted on the Agency's Web site and will include the names of the parties and witnesses. The decision will also be distributed to a number of organizations and individuals that have subscribed to receive Agency decisions. In its use of names and personal information in decisions and orders, the Agency has adopted the protocol approved by the Canadian Judicial Council in March 2005 for the use of personal information in judgements.  This protocol sets out guidelines to assist administrative tribunals when dealing with requests for the non-publication of names.

In an effort to establish a fair balance between public access to its decisions and the individual's right to privacy, the Agency has taken measures to prevent Internet searching of full-text versions of decisions posted on our Web site. This is done by applying instructions using the "web robots exclusion protocol" which is recognized by Internet search engines (e.g., Google and Yahoo).

Therefore, the only decision-related information on the Agency's Web site that will be available to Internet search engines are decision summaries and comments contained in the Agency's annual reports and news releases. The full-text version of decisions is posted on our Web site, but will not be accessible by Internet search engines. As a result, an Internet search of a person's name mentioned in a decision will not provide any information from the full-text version of decisions posted on the Agency's Web site.

We cannot guarantee that the technological measures taken will always be respected or free of mistakes or malfunctions.

There may be exceptional cases to warrant the omission of certain identifying information from an Agency decision. Such omission may be considered where minor children or innocent third parties will be harmed, where the ends of justice will be undermined by disclosure or the information will be used for an improper purpose. In such situations, the Agency may consider requests, supported by proper evidence, to prevent the use of information which identifies the parties or witnesses involved. Any individual who has concerns with respect to the publication of his or her name may contact the Agency's Secretariat by e-mail at NDN-NPN@otc-cta.gc.ca, or by calling 819-997-0099 or 1-888-222-2592 or TTY 1-800-669-5575, or by writing to the Canadian Transportation Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N9.

Privacy of Records

In all cases, the Agency's records relating to complaints will be retained in the Personal Information Bank numbers CTA-PPU-033 for 10 years after the complaint has been resolved & in CTA-PPU-014 for 10 years once received. An individual has the right of access to their personal information as this information will be protected in accordance with the Privacy Act. Questions or comments regarding your privacy may be directed to the Privacy Co-ordinator by e-mail at Patrice.Bellerose@otc-cta.gc.ca, by calling 819-994-2564 or 1-888-222-2592 or TTY 1-800-669-5575, or by writing to the Canadian Transportation Agency, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N9.