Canadians Having Their Say on the Future of Airfare Price Advertising Regulations - Five Days Left in National Consultation

OTTAWA, Feb. 22, 2012 /CNW/ - Consumers have five days left to let the Canadian Transportation Agency know what they would like to see in air services price advertising regulations.

Since February 13th, the Agency has been hosting an online consultation at airservicesadvertising.ca to allow Canadians to easily post new ideas, comment on ideas, and/or support which ideas they like best.

The two-week consultation closes on Sunday, February 26th.

The submissions gathered from the online consultation will help the Agency in the drafting of regulations requiring air carriers to include in their advertisements all costs to the carrier, as well as all other fees, charges, and taxes.

The intent of the new regulations is to ensure greater transparency and allow consumers to easily determine the total price of an air service—before they make their purchase decision.

What has been heard so far
The Agency is asking Canadians: "In an ad, what would help you to easily determine the total price of an airline ticket?"

Canadians across the country are answering the call to action. In just nine days since the consultation was launched, over 2,500 Canadians have visited the site to gather information and to support, comment on or post ideas in the forum. The couple of hundred ideas and comments submitted thus far include "inclusive pricing" and "abolishing fuel surcharges" to suggestions on "baggage charges" and "rules applying to flights purchased with points and/or dollars".

How to take part in the discussion
Canadians have the opportunity to contribute to the process of drafting federal regulations.

They can tell the Agency what they think at airservicesadvertising.ca/idea-forum and contribute to the ongoing dialogue.

About the Canadian Transportation Agency

The Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent administrative body of the Government of Canada. It performs two key functions within the federal transportation system:

• As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the Agency, informally and through formal adjudication, resolves a range of commercial and consumer transportation-related disputes, including accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. It operates like a court when adjudicating disputes.
• As an economic regulator, the Agency makes determinations and issues authorities, licences and permits to transportation carriers under federal jurisdiction.

Image with caption: "Man at laptop. (CNW Group/Canadian Transportation Agency)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120222_C6351_PHOTO_EN_10300.jpg

Image with caption: "Idea Forum. (CNW Group/Canadian Transportation Agency)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120222_C6351_PHOTO_EN_10302.jpg

Image with caption: "Idea forum posts. (CNW Group/Canadian Transportation Agency)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120222_C6351_PHOTO_EN_10301.jpg

For broadcast quality footage about this initiative, please visit http://cnw.pathfireondemand.com/viewpackage.action?packageid=521.

For more information on the Agency's consultations for Air Services Price Advertising Regulations, visit Idea Forum.

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