Remember when 69-year-old Dr. David Dao refused to give up his seat on a United Airlines flight in Chicago and was dragged off the plane to make room for airline employees?

A video of the bloodied man went viral in April 2017, leading many Canadians to ask about their rights as airline passengers.

What rights? In Canada, airlines can make their own rules and enforce the rules. The only requirement is to disclose the rules in a legal document called a tariff.

Canada lags far behind the European Union and United States, which introduced an airline passenger bill of rights more than a decade ago.

But while we don’t have a bill of rights, we do have a route to get there.

Last month, the Transportation Modernization Act (Bill C-49) came into force, allowing the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) to define airlines’ minimum obligations to passengers and, in some cases, minimum levels of compensation with respect to:

Flight delays and cancellations

Denied boarding, including bumping

Tarmac delays of three hours or more

Lost or damaged baggage

The seating of children under 14 years old

The transportation of musical instruments

The communication of passengers’ rights and their recourse options

The CTA, an independent regulator and adjudicator, wants your help in developing the rules. You’ll find a discussion paper and questionnaire at a new Air Passenger Protection site.

In a three-month consultation that ends on Aug. 28, the CTA will ask the public, consumer groups, airlines and other interested parties to share their views.

The agency will conduct in-person sessions at eight Canadian cities (starting with Toronto on June 14), do random surveys at 11 major airports across Canada and run a web-based consultation on July 5.

You can submit feedback at consultations@otc-cta.gc.ca. Or if you prefer, you can send a video. Just write to the same email address with the subject line “video” to co-ordinate your submission.

“This is the first time Canadians are being asked for their input on the details of air passenger protection regulations. To date, discussion has focused on broad concepts, not specifics,” said CTA chair and CEO Scott Streiner in a June 4 speech to the Canadian Automobile Association.

Share your thoughts

Take the infamous case last year, in which United Airlines bumped a passenger for reasons that were in its control.

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Imagine how you feel when you reach check-in with a confirmed reservation, only to find you’ve been moved to a later flight without your consent. The airline, which expected a number of no-shows, has sold more reservations than there are seats on the plane.

“We’re considering whether the minimum compensation in such a scenario should be particularly high, creating incentives for airlines to work hard to find volunteers willing to take a later flight,” Streiner said.

“Maybe someone heading off for her gap year trip will be happy to wait a few hours in exchange for compensation that covers a significant percentage of her ticket price – avoiding the need to bump a senior on the way to his grandson’s graduation or an athlete on her way to a major competition.”

What if the senior’s luggage is lost and he has to buy a new suit for the big event? Or the athlete’s skis are damaged? What compensation are they entitled to?

What if the gap year student’s plane is delayed on the tarmac for three or four hours? At what point should the airline have to let her and the other passengers off the plane?

In the case of a tarmac delay, how frequently should airlines update passengers? What should be the minimum standard of treatment when it comes to water, food, heating and cooling, functioning bathrooms, proper ventilation, medical attention and the ability to communicate with people outside the aircraft?

What if the athlete is travelling with her 8-year-old son and they want to be seated together? Should the airline have to give them spots next to each other, in the same row or within a few rows? Should the maximum acceptable seating distance between the child and a parent or guardian depend on the child’s age?

There are also questions about the types of compensation payable to passengers.

Should cash be the only option for airlines? What about offering travel vouchers valued at more than the cash price, frequent flyer points, upgrades or complimentary tickets?

“It should be cash only or a refund to the customer’s credit card,” said John Lawford, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “We prefer actual compensation that people can use for hotels, food and other flights.”

Elliott Silverstein, a CAA spokesperson, said it’s reasonable for airlines to offer vouchers or upgrades, as long as cash remains one of the options. The challenge with a voucher is that it may have a limited lifespan or be challenging to use.

I often hear from customers who can’t enjoy their reduced-fare flights within the prescribed six months or one year. Requests to extend the deadline rarely work.

My vote: Cash rules. After an incident of causing inconvenience to a passenger, let’s not give airlines a chance to inconvenience them again.