Airlines in the United States will soon be held to clear and consistent standards on flight cancellations, delays or unexpected changes to a passenger's travel plans. So what lessons could these new rules hold for Australia?
Airlines in America will soon have to give automatic refunds for cancelled and delayed flights. Could the same happen in Australia ?Experiencing cancelled or delayed flights and navigating refunds for them are some of the more annoying aspects of air travel, depending on where you are in the world.
"We think it's well overdue for to introduce some airlines-specific consumer protections to bring us in line with the rest of the world," she said. So what could these new rules mean for American passengers preparing to fly later this year and what lessons could they hold for Australia?One of the biggest gripes of Australian airline customers, according to Choice, is cancelled flights and unexplained delays.
But in a survey of 9,000 people asked about their airline experiences, Choice found that of those who pursued a refund or compensation for a delay or cancelled flight,When a customer advocate is described as feckless and a dud it should be a clarion call to fix it. Two years after the Aviation Consumer Advocate was labelled a "shonky impostor", things are finally heating up.
That was until the Transport Department issued new set of rules last week, which laid out a series of minimum protections for consumers.DOT will soon require airlines to automatically issue refunds when their flights are cancelled or significantly changed, their checked bags are significantly delayed, or purchased ancillary services, such as wi-fi, are not provided.
"If I buy a toaster and I go home, plug it in and it doesn't toast my bread, I can take that back and get my money back," he told the ABC. Junk fees are less of an issue in Australia despite there being no set guidelines on them. Under the ACL, they tend to fall within misleading or deceptive conduct and the regulator, the ACCC, has acted previously to stamp it out.Airlines and popular travel destinations are offering unique solutions to ditching cumbersome luggage in an effort to either reduce their travel footprint or the impact of tourism on local communities. Here are some of them.
"If they're going to be building the systems and processes to comply in the US, we have to ask why Australian consumers shouldn't get the same benefits," she said.Europe is a step ahead on consumer protections In the case of a delay of five hours or more, customers also have the right to cancel the flight and receive full reimbursement or another return flight at their earliest opportunity.DOT has signalled it would like to bring delay compensation rules in the US closer in line with those in Europe, but there has been no official announcement yet.Could Australia adopt similar rules?
He explains that part of the airlines' consideration when it comes to refunds revolves around there being a "very significant administration overhead in trying to get that money back to people".
America European Union Rules Refunds Cancelled Delays Australia Consumer Protection
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