A draft proposal by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on facilities to be provided by airlines to passengers if they are denied boarding and in the event of cancellation and delays in flights is not passenger-friendly, D. Sudhakara Reddy, founder and national president, Air Passengers Association of India, said here on Tuesday. Speaking to journalists, Mr. Reddy said one of the clauses in the draft proposal stated that airlines were not liable to pay any compensation in case of cancellations and delays clearly attributable to Air Traffic Control, meteorological conditions, security risks, unexpected flight safety shortcomings or any other causes beyond their control, but which affected the ability to operate flights on schedule. Such a clause would only help airlines and not passengers.
Similar was the case of a clause which stated that when boarding was denied to passengers against their will, the airline should, as soon as practicable, compensate them in accordance with the provisions in addition to the refund of air ticket.
Mr. Reddy said airlines should provide the compensation on the spot.
No compensation was payable to any affected passengers if the cancellation of flight was owing to extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of airlines such as political instability, natural disaster, civil war, insurrection, floods, explosion, government regulation, strikes and labour disputes causing cessation, interruption of work or any other factors.
Mr. Reddy said this clause had to be removed from the draft proposal.
Another two clauses under compensation referred to arranging alternative transportation under comparable/alternative modes of transport to the final destination and alternative transportation under comparable/alternative mode of transport to their final destination at a later date at the passengers' convenience, subject to availability.
Mr Reddy alleged that this clause once again favoured airlines and not passengers. This also needed to be removed.
