Not one compensation for flight delays yet

Mumbai: If you were under the impression that you would be compensated for a flight delay, this will come as a rude shock.
The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI), which has more than one lakh listed members, has said that not one out of the hundreds of passengers awaiting compensation under a recent Directorate General of Civil Avation (DGCA) rule, has actually received it.
"We are eager to meet anyone who has actually received compensation from the airlines. Many passengers are approaching us regularly with the complaint that they have not received compensation," said Milan A Zatakia, the Mumbai head of APAI.
"The main problem, according to me, lies in the structure of the aviation industry as we don't have a regulatory body as powerful and all-encompassing as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is for the telecommunications industry. There should be a system of consensus; only setting out guidelines will not work," he added.
Echoing Zatakia's views, Sudhakar Reddy, APAI national president, said, "There is no accountability in the regulation floated by the DGCA.
Every day, passengers are denied boarding, harassed and their flights are delayed and all they get to hear is a false promise that the airlines care about them and will deliver as per the regulations."
Unhappy passengers are now blaming the DGCA for not implementing its own guidelines and allowing the airlines to escape their responsibility towards passengers.
25/09/10 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Sep 2010