The absence of clear-cut rules about compensation that airlines should pay to customers in case of flight delays is acting as a boon in disguise for flight operators.
For instance, there is no rule to stipulate the amount of compensation to be paid by an airline if it defaults on payment to oil companies, resulting in curtailment of fuel supply to the airlines and eventual delay or cancellation of flights. This incongruity is adding to the woes of passengers.
On July 18, Air India and Kingfisher Airlines fights could not take off for two to four hours across the country due to shortage of fuel. The oil companies had apparently curtailed fuel supply to the defaulters, resulting in mass delay of flights.
To cap it all, the airlines neither informed its passengers about the development, nor they paid any compensation, making the most of porous compensation rules.
"We believe that the airline must pay passengers for the delays caused by their inability such as defaulting on payment to the oil companies. But the same is not happening, thanks to the loopholes in existing guidelines," said Devang Sanghvi of Venus Holidays, a travel agency in Andheri.
"We got many calls from the passengers regarding the delays that occurred due to recent suspension of flight operations by the defaulter airlines.
The airlines are at fault here and they should be penalised," added Sanghvi.
A city-based frequent flier who got stranded for at least two-and-a-half hours recently owing to the flight suspension told MiD DAY that they were not even informed about the reason behind the delay.
"The versions kept changing from the ground staff to the help desk. While someone said it was a technical delay because of a snag in the Air Traffic Control system (ATC), another said it was due to the bad weather. We only came to know about the actual reason, the day after through newspaper articles."
The Kingfisher airlines and Air India, which owe heavy dues to the oil companies, had to suspend their flight operations as the firms stopped fuel supply. The Kingfisher airline had to shut down its entire flight operations for at least two hours on July 18 because of depleted fuel supply.
In the last two-and-a-half months, the services of Air India had also been put on hold twice for the same reason.
On July 19, MiD DAY had reported ('Oil companies starve debtor Kingfisher' on July 19) how airlines apologised to their respective passengers by issuing a statement and did not pay compensation to the fliers.
According to the new rules from DGCA, which came into force on August 15, 2010, passengers are entitled to Rs 2,000 as compensation in case of a two-hour delay (excluding delays caused by an ATC snag, inclement weather and shortage of fuel) and Rs 4,000 in case of a four-hour delay.
The law further says that passengers must be informed at least three hours in advance about cancellation of flights. In case the airlines fail to do so, they must refund the price of the ticket to those who don't want to fly that day or make some alternative travel arrangements for them.
The Other Side
E K Bharatbhushan, chief of the Directorate of General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), did not elaborate much on the loopholes in the existing law. "There is no existing law to penalise airlines in such a situation," he said.
The DGCA chief, however, remained non-committal about stopping recurrence of such incidents in the future.
Kingfisher and Air India officials could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
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