Power Report: Holiday begins with rude shock from airline

01 May 2016 - 02:01 By Megan Power
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now

I could feel the anger and frustration in Jenny Park’s e-mail. The Hyde Park, Johannesburg, grandmother had just found out that the airline on which her family group was booked had bumped them off - and hadn’t even bothered to alert them.

Park and six relatives, including two children, had no choice but to forfeit a day of their Seychelles beach holiday after the booked aircraft was downgraded and there weren’t enough seats to go around.

“I am totally appalled that this type of thing can happen without any recourse at all,” said the 70-year-old. “I felt totally helpless and abused.”

It was only when she tried to change the family’s booking on the Air Seychelles site three weeks before departure, to make provision for a dive bag for one of her party, that she discovered they weren’t flying out on the day they’d booked.

story_article_left1

“I received an e-mail response containing e-tickets . . . the April 20 bookings had been marked cancelled, with further e-tickets dated April 21,” said Park.

“After numerous e-mails back and forth with little explanation, we learnt that the airline had bumped all seven of our family off the flight due to a change in aircraft size. They had never informed us and we would have arrived at the airport on April 20,” she said.

Arrangements in Mahé, including ferry bookings and accommodation, had to be adjusted and re-booked quickly. Hotel refunds have yet to be confirmed. As for any payout for such inconvenience and potential cost, none was offered. When the family protested, all the airline’s local office offered to do was forward the complaint to head office to “see if they would offer any compensation”.

“We have planned this holiday with our entire family of three generations for two years and to have this kind of thing happen without any thought from the airline is totally unacceptable,” said Park.

A further irritation was that an eighth traveller in their group, who had booked separately, had been kept on the original flight to the Seychelles.

“After a number of phone calls, they agreed to move her to the changed flight, with a pathetic ‘sorry for the inconvenience’ response.”

I asked guest affairs executive at head office Josette Adeline for comment. She didn’t reply to my e-mail, but a few hours later, she e-mailed Park, apologising for the “i nconvenience” — which she said was “due to operational reasons” — and offering “denied board compens at i o n ” of $200 (about R2 800) each. She regretted they’d not been contacted by the airline in advance, as per company policy.

story_article_right2

I e-mailed Adeline a further three times for more detail about the case but was ignored.

Park said the airline should ideally have flown them a day earlier instead of later, and paid for the extra day’s accommodation. The days of airlines getting away with overselling flights without any regard for passengers are, in theory at least, over.

Under the Consumer Protection Act, a supplier has to honour any commitment to supply goods or services on a specified date or at a specified time.

If the supplier fails, because of insufficient stock or capacity, to supply the goods or services, or those of a similar or comparable nature, it must refund the full amount paid, with interest from the date the money was paid.

Added to this, the supplier must compensate the consumer for costs directly incidental to the supplier’s breach of contract. However, if the breach is due to circumstances beyond the supplier’s control —and not just a result of the supplier’s lack of diligence — and the supplier took reasonable steps to inform the consumer, the supplier is not liable for the added incidental costs.

Yo u ’ll notice there’s a bit of grey here. Firstly, what is a comparable service? In Park’s case, the delayed flight was the same service that took them to the same destination. But it did so a day later, shortening their holiday. Is that then truly comparable?

Secondly, is the downsizing of  aircraft really something that’sout of an airline’s control, like severe weather, terror attacks, strikes? Without knowing the reason for the aircraft change, from an A330 to A320, it’s impossible to know.

Things get even more complex considering that a patchwork of various laws and rules — in addition to South African law — applies when you travel internationally. In the European Union, for example, passengers (regardless of nationality) are eligible for compensation — from €250 to €600 (R4 000 to R9 700) per passenger — if their flight is overbooked or delayed by more than three hours. This includes flights departing or arriving at any airport in the EU. Again, airlines are in the clear in “extraordinary circumstances”.

story_article_left3

So what does the International Air Transport Association have to say about Park’s case?

“Industry recognises the right to compensation, re-routing or refunds in cases of denied boarding or cancellations where circumstances are within the carrier’s control,” said Katherine Kaczynska, IATA spokeswoman in Geneva. “However, the principle of proportionality must apply.”

Kaczynska said certain denied boarding compensation limits enshrined in legislation were disproportionate to the value of time a passenger may lose due to the delay. Other compensation limits defined by governments exceeded the value of the ticket, she said.

“The objective is to find a fair, equitable and appropriate set of rules and compensations which can be applied consistently in all jurisdictions around the world.”

Closer to home, the CEO of the Airlines Association of Southern Africa, Chris Zweigenthal, said each airline should have a denied boarding policy that would be applied when such instances occurred.

“However, there is no standard for compensation to be applied by all airlines; setting such standards would be considered anti-competitive and the industry would, in my view, be taken to task on this.

“It is up to the airlines to offer compensation based on what is fair and reasonable, taking due account of the Consumer Protection Act,” he said.

Zweigenthal said the industry was working on an industry code — subject to approval and accreditation by the trade and industry minister — that would provide guidance on how such cases were resolved with consumers.

sub_head_start Contact Megan Power sub_head_end

E-mail: consumer@sundaytimes.co.za

Follow Megan on Twitter: @Power_Report

Tune in to PowerFM 98.7's 'Power Breakfast' (DStv audio channel 889) at 8.50am on Monday to hear more from Megan

Please note: Other than in exceptional circumstances, readers sending me complaints must be willing to be identified and photographed.

subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now