23 July 2008

Passenger complaints fall - but it's not all good news

Complaints from passengers to the Air Transport Users Council (AUC) were fewer last year than in the previous 12 months, but this might not necessarily mean that people are getting a better service, said chairman Tina Tietjen.

Written complaints about flight delays and cancellations- which account for the majority of letters to the AUC fell from 3,680 to 2,857 up to the end of March, but Tietjen said this didnÃ¢â¬â¢t mean that fewer passengers were being inconvenienced. She said it was probably more to do with the fact that airlines and passengers were more aware of their rights under European Union passenger rights legislation introduced in 2005.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœIt may be more to do with airlinesÃ¢â¬â¢ customer relations staff getting to grips with (the legislation) and thus being more inclined to give passengers what they are entitled to,Ã¢â¬~ she said. Ã¢â¬ÅâœIt might also be partly as a result of passengers themselves having a better understanding of their rights and being more successful at resolving their complaints without our help.Ã¢â¬~

On the downside, the AUC pointed out that it is not able to deal with complaints from UK passengers about incidents in continental Europe. Under the same piece of EU legislation, these have to be handled by a body in the country where the incident occurred.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœMany UK passengers have told us that they have not been able to pursue their entitlements under the Regulation as easily as they would have liked to, not least because of language barriers,Ã¢â¬~ saie Tietjen.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœWe have passed this feedback to the European Commission and we plan to do all we can to make the complaints handling process work better for passengers.Ã¢â¬~

Complaints to the AUC concerning denied boarding increased last year, possibly because the same piece of legislation gives passengers rights to compensation not just when they are bumped due to overbooking, as with previous legislation, but also in other circumstances, such as when an airline switches to a smaller aircraft.

By Linsey McNeill