Australian Aviation — January 2018

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 129

Air travel has never been

cheaper and travellers have

never had so much choice.ROB

FINLAYSON

T

he debate about passenger’s

rights has reached almost

hysterical levels in the United

States with extreme groups

making seemingly endless claims

about the mistreatment of, and

ripping off, of passengers.

And while the graphic vision

of a 69-year-old doctor being

dragged screaming from a United

Express plane in Chicago last year

is not a good look it certainly isn’t

the norm.

And the debate is not helped by

reports such as that from US-based

IdeaWorks which claims that ancillary

revenues climbed 22 per last year and

will reach US$82.2 billion.

While consumer groups will jump

on that number as further evidence

that passengers are being ripped off,

the reality is that the airlines that

are biggest receivers of this revenue

are the kings of the low-cost carriers

• Frontier and Spirit in the US and
  Ryanair and Wizz in Europe.
  Also, almost a third of that
  headline number includes the impact
  of frequent flyer programs which
  for most people are a ticket out of
  economy into luxury, and you can’t put
  a value on that.
  And all of these numbers and
  claims totally ignore that simple fact
  that air travel has never been cheaper
  and travellers have never had so much
  choice.
  But in the age of rights not
  responsibility and of course the age
  of fake news passengers insist on
  their rights and believe they are being
  gouged.
  To help demystify those rights
  across a complex mishmash of
  legislation AirlineRatings.com, at the
  urging of ICAO, has added ‘passenger
  rights’ details for most of the 425
  airlines that it rates.

On each airline’s rating page there

is a tab for passenger rights, giving a

clear summary of the rights and links

to consumer help.

AirlineRatings.com editor Steve

Creedy found that there certainly is

not one-size-fits-all when it comes to

passenger rights.

“A complicated patchwork of

legislation globally leaves passengers

protected on some routes but not

others, benefiting from compulsory

payments in some regions but

compensated at the discretion of

carriers in others. It’s a situation that

can lull travellers into a false sense of

security,” Creedy found.

“Domestic air passenger rights are

stipulated under a carrier’s conditions

of carriage, the bits that everybody

says they’ve read when booking a

ticket but usually haven’t. This will

typically tell you what compensation

you get in the case of a delayed

departure, a cancellation or if an

airline loses or damages your luggage,”

he continued.

“It’s a legal contract between the

airline and the passenger, where

the airline says we will get you from

to a to b and if we don’t manage to

get from a to b, then these are the

rights of recourse that you have,’’

says International Air Transport

Association assistant director external

affairs Chaitan Jain. “So that’s really

the basic document which specifies

what are the obligations of the airline.’’

For international flights, air

passenger rights are broadly dealt with

under the 1999 Montreal Convention,

the understandably shortened name

for the Convention for the Unification

of Certain Rules for International

Carriage by Air.

As well as serious issues such as

compensation for fatal accidents or

physical injuries, the convention spells

out the maximum liability by airlines

for issues such as lost or damaged

baggage, flight delays or cancellations

and denied boarding.

“But only about 130 states

of the 191 who are members of

the International Civil Aviation

Organization are signatories, leaving a

patchwork of local regulations across

some 60 countries,” says Creedy.

“Generally speaking, airlines are

not required under the convention

to provide compensation for

extraordinary events over which

they have no control, but they must

provide either a ticket refund,

alternative transportation to your final

destination or rebooking at a later date

of your choice.

“These extraordinary circumstances

may include political instability, bad

weather such as snow storms or the

recent US hurricanes, security risks,

unexpected flight safety problems and

industrial action such as strikes.”

AirlineRatings.com found

that Europe is the gold standard

of passenger rights legislation

and airlines are required to pay

compensation for denied boarding,

cancellation or if a flight arrives more

than three hours late.

But, there are many grey areas.

“Let’s say you’re in San Francisco

and you’re flying to London using

a ticket purchased from American

Airlines but the carrier operating the

flight is British Airways. In this case,

the EU regulations will kick in because

the service is operated by a European

carrier,” notes Creedy.

“But the opposite is also true. If

you’ve purchased a ticket on British

Airways and your flight is actually

operated by American Airlines, the EU

regulations do not apply.”

Creedy says that “it should come as

no surprise that the European rules

are an anathema to airlines, which

argue they contradict the convention

and create confusion among

consumers already uncertain about

their rights.”

“The airlines also worry that the EU

rules will be revised to look at delays

on the basis of a whole journey and

measure it on arrival.”

Passenger rights are a nightmare

for airlines and passengers alike and

there are almost no winners in today’s

society.

‘Europe is the

gold standard

of passenger

rights

legislation.’

CONTRAILS

GEOFFREY THOMAS

Navigating a nightmare

Understanding passenger rights