The federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau took a stab Tuesday at making things better when it comes to people getting kicked off Air Canada flights because of overcrowding. In the end, however, he seems to have hung his hat on the airline offering more money to get unwanted passengers to go away quietly. In the process he made some stern remarks about no one ever being forced off a flight against his or her will again. Maybe. But he may know better about the reality of too many people trying to board the same plane. No doubt his heart was in the right place. Garneau’s strongest promise was that he will make sure “travellers are treated like people and not numbers.” He did not talk about the wonky economics of the airline business. It horrifies airline executives that a plane might take off with an empty seat. We will see.
