Owing to frequent complaints from passengers at airports in Nigeria, especially flight delays, there are strong indications that the federal government may henceforth compel airline operators in the country to make full refund of cost of travel tickets to passengers after a two-hour delay or more.
Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, gave this indication on Thursday at the weekly briefings, coordinated by the Presidential Media Team at the State House Abuja.
He urged passengers to always demand their rights whenever they are being trampled upon by airlines operators, noting that such rights were spelt out in the aviation regulatory code but passengers feign ignorance of them.
“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.
He however, noted that his ministry has began sanctioning of some airlines who defaulted on consumer rights, advising passengers to always comport themselves at all times.
Sirika also revealed that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has so far released the sum of N5billion out of N22billion initially approved by the Federal Executive Council to stakeholders in the aviation sector.
