SEPANG – Airlines were consulted before the Transport Ministry decided on a new policy requiring them to give passengers the option of a full refund for flights delayed for five hours or more, minister Anthony Loke said.
He said the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) had held stakeholder engagement sessions with airlines and the commission has been asked to hold a briefing session today to provide more detailed explanations on every situation that warrants a refund.
“(This is since) many would be wondering what kind of scenarios can be defined as delays,” Loke told reporters after inspecting two new Aerotrains at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) today.
He was asked whether Mavcom had held engagement sessions with airlines prior to the announcement of the new refund policy last week.
AirAsia’s parent, Capital A Bhd’s chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes had responded to the new policy by saying it should apply to all stakeholders, including airport operators, and not just airlines.
He said running an airline “is tough” and called for the new rules to have some exclusion clauses, as there are possibilities of delays caused by suppliers, traffic control, and information technology (IT) outages, among others.
On August 28, Loke announced the refund policy under new improvements to the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code 2016 which will be gazetted this September.
Passengers can opt for a full refund for flight delays of five hours or more, and if they wish to cancel their trips. Additionally, airlines must issue refunds through the original mode of payment.
He said there were various reactions from the airlines to the new policy, but stressed that whatever had been announced “has been gazetted” and called for adherence by airlines to the rules.
Loke also said that all cancelled flights must be removed from booking systems, including online and offline travel agent platforms, so as to protect consumers from purchasing canceled flight tickets.
Loke said that failure by airlines to comply with the regulation can result in a maximum penalty of RM200,000 with subsequent non-compliance resulting in a penalty 10 times greater than the initial fine issued to them. – September 2, 2024