Travelers moan and fight for reimbursement as airline delays get worse

A user of X (previously Twitter) named Mr. Odugu Kenneth Kanayo used the platform to contact a local airline in Nigeria on April 1, 2024, at precisely 9:20 PM, requesting a N110,000 refund.

According to Kanayo’s article, the N110,000 was the price of his ticket for an illusory aircraft from Enugu (ENU) to Abuja (ABV).

The air passenger’s plea, directed at the airline, came on a day the airline posted its scorecard for March 2024 on X, noting: “Scheduled flights: 745; flights operated: 719; delayed flights: 141; rescheduled flights: 218; cancelled flights: 26; schedule reliability: 67 per cent; on-time performance: 80 per cent.”

The triad of postponed, canceled, and delayed flights has turned into a nightmare for many travelers nationwide, just like Anayo’s predicament.

Actually, one of the main issues facing travelers by air is the concerning rise in the number of flight delays and cancellations.

Flight cancellations have caused financial losses, stranded travelers, and disruptions to schedules at airports around the nation.

For instance, the airline might repeatedly cancel a scheduled 7:45 AM flight till 3:00 PM without providing a valid explanation.

According to research conducted by Saturday Vanguard Aviation, more than 30,000 flights in Nigeria were canceled or delayed by both domestic and foreign airlines between January 2022 and December 2022.

To provide a clearer picture, the nation’s aviation regulator, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, or NCAA, also mentioned that 47,144 flights were delayed by domestic carriers during that time.

NCAA Act

To elaborate, NCAA stated that 53% of all flights conducted in Nigeria in 2023 were delayed and 1% were canceled at a presentation on the rules of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023 Part 19 in February 2024.

In light of this, domestic airlines would have to reimburse customers for frequent flight delays and cancellations, according to Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo.

Part 19 of the NCAA Act, which requires airlines to reimburse customers for their money in the event of a flight cancellation, was followed in Keyamo’s case.

The Act stipulated that refunds for domestic flights had to be made right away, and for international flights, they had to be made within 14 days. It also required that the reimbursement be completed in full.

Travelers bemoan

Further investigation on X by Saturday Vanguard Aviation, however, revealed that passengers on a number of domestic carriers have voiced dissatisfaction with the difficulty in obtaining a reimbursement following canceled flights. Similarly, Odugu’s scheduled trip from Enugu to Abuja was canceled. On April 1, 2024, Ibom Air, an X user with the username echosierra9776, wrote: “Please, Arik, reimburse me for your canceled flight. Despite my repeated applications and the hassle of supplying the necessary documentation, I have not received a refund.

Another user, kinxleey, on March 24, 2024, said: “@DanaAir cancelled my flight in February due to operational reasons, but I’m the one pursuing them for a refund.”

Difficulty in refunding

Commenting on the development, principal managing partner at Avaero Capital Partners, Sindy Foster, said the difficulty in refunding begins with understanding how passengers pay for their flights. Foster explained: “When you log onto an airline’s website and input your card details to pay for your flight, you are, in most cases, communicating with a payment provider. That payment provider will charge your card the amount of your trip and then transfer it into an acquiring bank, which will, in turn, send your payment to the airline. In the case of transfers, the airline will need to reconcile the payment and match it to the passenger’s ticket.

“Cash paid is easier, but airlines do not hold onto cash, it gets banked. Banks impose daily limits in Nigeria, so it won’t always be possible to pay 100 per cent of refunds in one go. When bookings are made via travel agents or third party online travel booking platforms, airlines are unable to directly contact the passenger about relevant refund options, as the booking owner is not the passenger but the platform via which tickets were purchased. As a result the compensation may be delayed. 

“Passengers who booked tickets via online travel booking platforms have no other option but to rely on the actions of the booking owner. Each online travel booking platform has different ways of handling refund requests and these are beyond airlines’ influence and control.

Incentivizing vouchers

“Refunds and managing cash flow can be a challenging task for airlines to manage. Not only is the method of issuing them complex, but most airlines would rather hand out travel vouchers. Incentivizing vouchers could make them more appealing to customers. If passengers rebook their travel or take a voucher rather than a refund, they can be awarded an additional discount to put towards future trips.”

Holistic approach

Meanwhile, Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Mr Michael Achimugu, who recently spoke to this correspondent, said travels around the world during peak seasons such as Christmas, New Year and Easter are high.

“Right now, we are experiencing weather issues. There is hazy weather; sometimes, technical issues. When the disruption is caused by weather, the airline cannot be blamed or held responsible. We also have issues where the airlines are at fault and in our capacity; we have been resolving hundreds of cases and securing complete refunds for passengers.

“We are taking a holistic approach towards solving the problem. Right now, even if there are 3000 planes in Nigeria and all are working perfectly, with weather issues alone, there will always be flight disruptions,” he stressed.

Sleepless nights

On his part, Keyamo, through his Special Assistant, Media and Communications, Mr Tunde Moshood, who also recently spoke to this correspondent on flight delays and cancellations, said: “Very soon, there will be changes. We will come out and tell the public what we are doing about it. We are aware and it is also giving us sleepless nights.”