Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has advised airlines operating in the country to always ensure that air travelers rights are not trampled upon.
As part of the aviation passengers, the Minister who spoke yesterday at weekly State House Briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja, explained that passengers have the right to demand for a 100% refund of the cost of ticket after a two hour delay.
He read some of the rights of aviation passengers at the briefing and charged them to demand their rights whenever they are being trampled upon by airlines.
“On domestic flights, delay beyond one hour, carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one e-mail. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour’.
“Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets.
“Delay between 10pm and 4am, carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email and transport to-and-fro airport,” Sirika said, adding that the same rules apply for international flights.
The minister, who said his ministry has started sanctioning some airlines who default on consumer rights, however, urged passengers not to be unruly at airports.
Of late, flight cancellations and delays have characterised inter-city air transportation in Nigeria, with many passengers scolding the about 10 commercial airlines operating scheduled flights for keeping them waiting at airports for hours after their scheduled departure time.
However, the airlines, under the aegis of Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) had in a meeting with the Senate enumerated various factors for delays and cancellation of flights in the country.
Led by Chairman of Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema, the operators said unavailability and the rising cost of aviation fuel (Jet A1) and inadequate parking space are some of the reasons for the disruption of scheduled flights.
