The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has vowed to sanction Aero Contractor Airlines which had on Sunday delayed and eventually cancelling its Abuja- Lagos flights without any good reason.
In a statement by the NCAA spokesman, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke, said; “In addition, the failure of the airline to render assistance expected in case of cancellation would attract moderate to minimum penalty plus prescribed compensation to the affected passengers.
“A total number of 11 passengers reported the occurrence to NCAA through the Directorate of Consumer Protection.” NCAA had late last year launched the passengers’ bill of rights, which seeks to protect the rights of the passengers and also the duties of passengers to airlines. NCAA believes that indigenous airlines unnecessarily violate the rights of passengers, thereby seeking massive compensation for them whenever their rights are violated.
Part of the bill revealed that a passenger, whose luggage is delayed or lost in transit must be compensated within five business days unlike now that most passengers with lost luggage are not compensated or adequately attended to by the airlines’ personnel.
Also, the bill said if a passenger’s flight is re-routed or delayed, such a passenger must be notified at least two hours in advance, adding that for a passenger with a ticket or print-out that shows a confirmed reservation for a specific flight and date, an agent cannot deny the passenger boarding because of lack of reservation in the computer.
The bill first came for mentioning in March 2012 under the erstwhile Director- General of the (NCAA), Dr. Harold Demuren, when he observed that airlines, most of the time, failed to adhere to the contract terms enter into with the passengers.
