“We want our pilots to be entirely free from any financial consideration when they take a safety-related decision,” WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said
Safety related delays and cancelations are not the problem. The airlines not having enough staff to fly the planes is the problem. Poor planning by the airlines is the problem. Lying and calling those YOU problems safety problems IS the ptoblem.
The loophole is allowing airlines to call any delay or cancellation a “safety issue” to deny passengerd compensation.
We pay for a an agreed service at an agreed time. If the airlines don’t provide the service as and when described we should be compensated. The government is just closing a loophole that allows the airlines to decide how, when, and even if they are going to provide the service we paid for.
Is it somehow coming out of their pay?
I just retired as a school bus driver. There were some rules that required I cancel for safety reasons. There was also a rule that said, in effect, I was the best judge of my abilities and local conditions and circumstances, making me free to cancel even when cancellation was not mandatory.
I both cases, I was still paid as if I hadn’t cancelled. This was not just a secret little rule, but hammered in to us to make sure that we understood there was no penalty for cancellation.
I never once had an administrator question my decision to cancel. In the rare case that a parent questioned my decision, it was referred to administration who unfailingly backed me up. I’m sure there was a process in place to deal with malingering, but that’s pretty much standard procedure in every workplace.
If there is not a similar regime for pilots, there should be.