The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that the strike by federal civil servants could mean passengers who filed complaints with the airline regulator could face even longer processing times. A Canadian Press dispatch to the Post says that the backlog of complaints on issues ranging from lost luggage to compensation for cancelled flights is now 45,000, with a processing time of 18 months per case on average, according to the Canadian Transportation Agency. That is more than triple the tally from a year ago after travel chaos erupted during the summer and winter holidays due to soaring demand, labour shortages and poor weather. Employees at the regulator are among the 155,000-plus members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada that are on strike. The agency said in an on-line post that its "dispute resolution activities may be subject to delays." Gabor Lukacs at the Air Passenger Rights advocacy group, said the stack of complaints is now so high that even a strike of several weeks would barely register for most Canadians awaiting a case resolution. "On top of those 18 months, we'd have two more weeks. I mean, it's a farce," Mr. Lukacs said. Last month, the feds promised to hire 200 more CTA employees.