Complaints and enquiries - Air Transport Users Council

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2 CHAIRMAN’S INTRODUCTION There has been much discussion about the future of air passenger representation in the UK in the past year. We have set out our own views on this in our response to the Government’s consultation on the future framework for the economic regulation of airports in UK, which included proposals for moving air passenger representation in the UK from the AUC to Passenger Focus, the body which represents rail and bus passengers. A copy of our detailed response can be found on our website. In short, our view is that we agree with the Government that the solution to capturing the consumer interest in regulatory decisions on economic regulation may lie in updating arrangements for air passenger representation. But where we differ from the Government, and the CAA, is in what is the best way to achieve this. We believe air passenger interests are best served by a sector-specific organisation, in particular because of the international and competitive characteristics of the air transport market. In the meantime, and against this backdrop of discussions over our future, our complaints team has been as busy as ever. We received 12,307 complaints and enquiries last year, an increase of 11% on the year before. But complaints are not just important on an individual basis. The complaints data is central to the work of an air passenger representation body; in a competitive market, it gives us an early warning sign of areas where there is consumer detriment. We can therefore use this “intelligence” to inform our advocacy work on behalf of all passengers. Over the past year, we have continued to investigate a wide range of consumer protection issues which have come to our attention through complaints. For example, the significant increase in booking tickets online has led to an increase in written complaints about reservation issues over the past few years; last year we received 425 written complaints compared to 211 in 2005/06. This increase in complaints prompted us to publish our report on “Buying tickets online – an AUC report on the pitfalls of booking tickets over the internet” last May. However, many of the issues that passengers contact us about have already been addressed through recent legislation. For example, Regulation EC261/2004 on compensation and assistance in the event of denied boarding, cancellation and delay introduced provisions for redress and assistance for delays and cancellations. And the Montreal Convention 1999, which came into force in 2004, increased maximum limits for mishandled
3 baggage. Last year, Regulation EC 1008/2008 (“the third package”) came into force. This includes provisions that should in effect bring in clarity and commonsense to airline pricing. In addition, we can use other generic consumer protection legislation to address areas of consumer detriment in air transport. For example, we frequently challenge airlines’ conditions of carriage by reference to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. But we continue to receive large numbers of complaints about alleged infringements of Regulation EC 261/2004. We also believe that the Montreal Convention has not brought about the benefits, in terms of settlements of claims for mishandled baggage, that we had hoped for. In addition, we note that many airlines have yet to fully comply with the provisions of the “third package”. And a number of airlines continue to include what appear unfair to us to be terms in their conditions of carriage. We believe that the priority now is for us to do as much as we can to ensure that the legislation in place is enforced by the relevant bodies to the benefit of passengers. In general, that means a greater emphasis on our advocacy work directed at individual carriers and at enforcement bodies, rather than at legislators or industry trade associations. We therefore see much of our role as increasingly being to identify issues of detriment as they arise and to feed this intelligence to enforcement bodies. Last year we continued to work with the CAA, the designated National Enforcement Bodies in EU Member States, and the European Commission on enforcement of Regulation EC261/2004. And we presented them with evidence of instances from our complaints where we considered that airlines had not complied with the rules. We also published a report on mishandled baggage settlements under the Montreal Convention. “The luggage lottery – an AUC report into compensation payments to passengers for mishandled baggage” concluded that the Convention had not brought about the benefits to passengers in terms of settlements for mishandled baggage that we had hoped for when it came into force in 2005. This report has since prompted the European Commission to consider an EU wide investigation of airline mishandled baggage settlements. So it has again been another packed year for the Council. I would like to thank my fellow Members of the Council, and also the executive team, for their support they have given me over the year. Their expertise and hard work has been invaluable to me in what has been a challenging, but ultimately productive, year for the AUC. Tina Tietjen
Page 1: AIR TRANSPORT USERS COUNCIL ANNUAL
Page 6 and 7: 4 REVIEW OF THE YEAR Complaints and
Page 8 and 9: 6 Telephone enquiries in 2008/09 Ty
Page 10 and 11: 8 compensate a number of passengers
Page 12 and 13: 10 Schedule changes Last year we re
Page 14 and 15: 12 Representing passengers Consumer
Page 16 and 17: 14 Besides, we suggested that it wa
Page 18 and 19: 16 Financial protection Last year t
Page 20 and 21: 18 to change the date or the name o
Page 22 and 23: 20 two-thirds of the standards and
Page 24 and 25: 22 Consultations and Inquiries Civi
Page 26 and 27: 24 Guest speakers at AUC Council me
Page 28 and 29: 26 She has written several text boo
Page 30 and 31: 28 Secretariat (as of March 31 st 2
Page 32 and 33: 30 • The AUC shall consist of a C
Page 34: 32 GLOSSARY APD Air Passenger Duty

Complaints and enquiries - Air Transport Users Council

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