Research by Which? found that nearly two in five airline passengers (39%) had “little confidence” that their airline would treat them fairly when things went wrong with flights. This figure rose to 49% among those passengers who had suffered a delay to their most recent journey.
The study of 1,000 passengers also found that those who did not book a flight as part of a package were more likely to lack confidence that the airline would treat them fairly (45%), compared with package customers (31%).
Which? found that 35 out of 149 people (23%) who had suffered a delay of more than two hours or a cancellation believed that their airline had not met legal requirements such as informing them of their rights to assistance.
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said: “After the unacceptable delays and disruption experienced by travellers last year, it is concerning, though perhaps unsurprising, to find that almost two-fifths of travellers express a lack of confidence that they’ll receive fair treatment from their airlines should things go awry in future.
“The transport secretary must urgently set out plans to equip the aviation regulator with greater enforcement powers so it can properly hold airlines to account when they mistreat passengers and neglect their legal responsibilities," Concha continued.
“Without decisive action, some airlines will continue to be emboldened to fail passengers, as we’ve seen repeatedly in the last few years.”
The Which? survey found that 41% of passengers had suffered a delay, cancellation or loss of luggage during a recent flight. Delays were the most common problem (73%) with around one-third waiting for more than two hours.
Paul Smith, the CAA’s consumer director, said: “We have regularly asked for stronger consumer enforcement powers, including the ability to impose fines on airlines. This would allow us to take faster action when appropriate and bring our powers in line with other sectoral regulators.
“If implemented, proposals outlined in the government’s consultation on enforcement powers, which were supported by the Transport Committee, will improve passenger rights and equip us with better tools to act swiftly and effectively for the benefit of consumers.”
‘Brazen’
Meanwhile, On the Beach chief executive Simon Cooper condemned airlines’ behaviour over refunds, cancellations and extra charges as “a disgrace”.
“Ministers and regulators are finally realising it too. Maybe if the CAA started to hand out large fines, they’d change their behaviour?” said Cooper.
“Now more than ever, every penny counts for consumers. The CAA has to be given the power and tools to enforce the rules and hold these airlines who are brazenly ignoring the law, to account.
“The CAA also needs to speed up its Atol reform consultation process. It’s been delay after delay – evidence of the apathy that exists in our industry.”
