A spate of flight cancellations and delays last year caused a surge in complaints to the Air Transport Users Council (AUC), the aviation watchdog.
The body announced in its annual report that it received more than 12,000 complaints in the 2006-07 period, up by 22 per cent compared to the figure for the previous 12 months. Some 6,289 of these were complaints in writing, and 5,757 were made over the telephone.
Various events that were widely covered in the media had an impact on customer dissatisfaction. For example, two major factors contributing to the rise in complaints about cancellations (which increased from 1,500 to 4,500) were the security alert last August and the thick fog at Heathrow in December.
Complaints about mishandled baggage, ticketing issues such as refunds, reservation problems, ground services such as check-in, excess baggage charges, missed connections, taxes and baggage allowance were all also up on 2005-06 figures.
The increase in baggage allowance complaints, from 57 to 140, was thought to be largely because of the new stricter hand baggage rules introduced by the government in the wake of the August alert.
Despite protests by airlines including British Airways, transport secretary Ruth Kelly has so far been unwilling to lift regulations that limit passengers to one piece of carry-on luggage (see related Cheapflights story).
The rise in the number of complaints about taxes (from 107 to 233) was brought about mainly by the doubling of air passenger duty from February 1. Many people had already paid for their flights in full before the tax was increased, yet were still being asked to pay the extra.
The AUC report also examined case studies of instances where airlines had refused to compensate passengers until the AUC itself stepped in.
In one example, a party of three was returning to Glasgow when their flight was cancelled due to adverse weather. The passengers were flown to Stansted but were forced to travel back to Glasgow at their own expense. When they asked for a refund for these additional flights, their airline refused. The AUC reminded the airline of its obligation to re-route passengers to their final destination and it eventually paid up.
Complaints to the AUC only represent a tiny fraction of the whole, because the watchdog only deals with those passengers who have already complained to their airline but found the response unsatisfactory.
However, it was not all bad news. The number of complaints received by the AUC decreased in certain categories, such as in-flight service, airline failure, and safety.
The body also noted that the way people fly continues to change significantly, with recent innovations including online or self-service kiosk check-in, and charges for services like baggage handling.
Tina Tietjen, chairman of the AUC, commented: “We agree that some of these innovations, such as self-service check-in, can make life easier for passengers. But airlines and airport operators must be careful that the changes they make are put in place with the best interests of their customers at heart and not in the interest solely of cutting costs.”
