Government should stop airlines dumping passengers

Budget airlines in Australia who cancel any flights should be forced to provide stranded airline passenger with accommodation, transport and meals, according to a leading online travel website.

totaltravel.com is urging the Federal Government to pressure airlines into making it standard policy to look after stranded customers. 

“Airlines have a moral responsibility to look after their customers when flights are cancelled due to poor weather, mechanical problems or other reasons,” said totaltravel.com global marketing manager Paul Fisher.

“Treating your customers like second-class citizens is inexcusable.”

The comments follow budget airline Jetstar’s decision to cancel domestic flights out of Sydney airport due to bad weather last Thursday.

The airline passengers were then kicked out of the domestic airport at closing time, with one woman forced to sleep in a bus shelter.

A statement from Jetstar later claimed that its policy “did not require it to assist passengers inconvenienced by bad weather”.

“Just because a budget airline offers budget tickets, it doesn’t mean that they should be offering below-average customer service,” Mr Fisher said.

“You don’t get repeat customers by treating them shabbily.”

A Report by The Mole