Passengers’ rights to compensation
are stated in the bill.
The Federal
Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) said a passenger’s Bill of Rights has
been introduced to protect the rights of air travelers in the country.
The
Managing Director of FAAN, George Uriesi, made the disclosure when he featured
at a forum of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja where he
urged passengers to know their rights.
“The
NCAA has recently introduced the passenger Bill of Rights and I encourage
everybody; you can access it anywhere, you access on the NCAA’s website; you
access it at the airport; go to the NCAA’s desk and take a copy of the Bill of
Rights,” he said.
“It
stipulates all the rights the passenger has with respect to the contract he has
with the airline.
“If
the airline says it will fly you at 7 a.m., it has a number of hours against
which it can delay you before you are entitled to a meal first and a number of
hours in which it can delay before you are taken to a hotel; then a number of
hours within which it is expected to pay you a penalty plus refund of your
money if you don’t want to fly anymore.
“And
these are things that never existed before.’’
Mr.
Uriesi said penalties in the Bill of Rights would make airlines sit up and
assess their schedules, and will allow passengers to know they could demand for
compensation when their rights were violated.
He
said that airports were status symbols which said much about a country and
expressed regret that Nigerian airports were abandoned for a long time while
things got messy.
According
to him countries like South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, among others had
repositioned their airports, but Nigeria delayed the repositioning of it
airports.
“We
have been sleeping for a long time and our airports got dilapidated but we are
dealing with it, though late, because using the airports should be a dignifying
experience,’’ he said.
Uriesi
said that FAAN was remodeling all federal airports to raise their status to a
level where all would be proud of.
“The
airline business is a time-based business; that is why they have schedules; if
it was not, it will be a motor park thing where the airplane will wait until it
is full,” he said.
“So,
you who want to go to Abuja by 7 O’clock, if the airplane is not full, by 10
a.m., you still have to be on the ground waiting; so, if a deal is made and I
promise you I will take you to Abuja by 7 a.m.; at 7 a.m., you must depart
whether there are only five passengers or more; whether you are the only one on
board, you must depart.
“In the real sense of the word, the Nigeria Civil Aviation
Authority (NCAA) is
the regulator of the airline in this respect, FAAN is just a service provider
like the airline but it is a government-owned service provider.” NAN
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