New aviation industry ombudsman & customer rights charter in Australia

[LondonAussie]

Or perhaps the law should require ‘rerouting at the earliest opportunity’, even if that is on another airline?

This is actually the best part of the EU regulation, though it's often overshadowed by compensation. The airline is responsible to get you to your final destination and must cover any expenses such as flights on another airline. They must also cover all your meal and accommodation costs until they get you there.

EU261 delay compensation does not apply until 3 hrs. So a 2:59hr (arrival) delay has no compensation.
And nothing for extraordinary delay (like ATC as happens at SYD more than it should = AU fed govt control/problem)

Correct, EU compensation payments aren't provided for delays caused by extraordinary circumstances, but the 'duty of care' provisions and expense reimbursements (meals, accommodation, alternative transport) apply to all delays and cancellations regardless of the cause.

Everybody gets distracted and obsessed by the compensation payments and misses the bigger picture.

 

[CMA222]

An interesting comment in the ABC (Australia) news on-line this morning regarding the BA mayday incident as SYD airport:

A British Airways spokesman said passengers were entitled to apply for compensation due to the delays, under the airline's legal obligations.

Not only are BA acknowledging compensation is available, and advising the passengers, they also rebooked most passengers on other carriers, the same day, to ensure they were delayed for the minimum amount of time. This is the compensation system and delay obligations working as intended by UK261. What will Aust get under the proposed new regime ?

If it was QF they would have delayed everyone, probably for 24 hours, and started the PR machine rolling to deny any compensation as per their T's and C's.

 

[nebsta]

I'm so confused as to whether the new proposal out for consultation actually includes the ability to get rebooked onto another carrier at no cost to the consumer.

The paper out for consultation says:

The proposed Charter standards recognise that in the event of an unreasonable delay or cancellation, the

consumer should have flexibility and choice in deciding what the best option may be to reach their intended

destination. Consequently, in addition to requesting a full refund or a travel credit voucher, a consumer may

also opt to be rebooked on another flight to the same original final destination at no further cost to them,

even if this requires the airline to rebook the consumer on another airline.

And this seems to be the proposed assistance on offer:



But it doesn't make it explicit in the table which scenarios where rebooking includes another carrier.

 

[SydneySwan]

If Qantas rebook you on another carrier it will be JetStar

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How to take something so simple and make it so hard!!

Looking at the consultation document, it actually appear to ERODE current passenger rights.

It’s saying a full refund will only be mandated for cancelled or ‘unreasonably delayed’ flights… ie those more than 3 hours. At the moment ACL provides that if a flight is o longer fit for purpose, as full refund can be given. That could mean less than 3 hours, depending on the circumstances.

Re-routing… under the proposals it just has to be within 24 hours for domestic travel or 48 hours for international. That would likely override current IRROPS arrangements where airlines will get you on your way as quickly as possible.

QF JQ and others currently say they will get you on their next available flight. Now… no need to worry about that… can be 48 hours away!

It is unbelievable how complex and tangled someone has managed to make these compensation guidelines.

 

[FlyingKangaroo]

Anyone expecting the result of this process to be anything other than an optical illusion / Canberra PR-stunt is going to be sorely disappointed.

 

[dajop]

A British Airways spokesman said passengers were entitled to apply for compensation due to the delays, under the airline's legal obligations.

Not only are BA acknowledging compensation is available, and advising the passengers, they also rebooked most passengers on other carriers, the same day, to ensure they were delayed for the minimum amount of time. This is the compensation system and delay obligations working as intended by UK261. What will Aust get under the proposed new regime ?

Although under UK261 not every passenger on that aircraft is entitled to compensation. Those only travelling as far as SIN would not be covered by UK261 rights. If Australia had equivalent regulations - they would be.

 

[CaptJCool]

When you try to CODIFY specified events within timeframes you end up with a raft of business rules..


And there lies the conundrum
The 6am flight gets delayed, on a high volume route, there’s another flight at 6.30
Compared to Daily flights or locations like Griffith, Wagga, Emerald or say Somewhere up the Pilbara/NT

Or Last flight of the Night (into/out of curfew restricted cities) when the next flights not til the next morning
(I’ve Been caught in a Sydney hailstorm when everything grinds to a halt and they can’t catch up so by 8.55pm there’s PAX left in Sydney in need of re-booking, and some need accommodation & transport - when it’s happened responsiveness was decent)
I’ve been caught circling Canberra skies and diverted to Sydney/Melbourne - that’s entirely another mess to handle although the fog landing systems are infinitely better these days so less occurrences

The second column is more meaningful