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FYI<br />
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS<br />
When Things Go Wrong<br />
With Your Flight<br />
WORDS BY KATHLEEN POON • PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES<br />
Bags are packed nicely. Flight tickets and passport are in<br />
order. You arrive early at the airport. You are all set to go<br />
for your next trip.<br />
And then, the inevitable happened. You learn that your flight<br />
is delayed or worse still, cancelled. Or you arrive at your<br />
destination but your bags are nowhere to be found on the<br />
baggage carousel.<br />
Or your flight is taking off as per schedule but you are<br />
denied from boarding the flight because it is overbooked?<br />
Remember the United Airlines passenger who was violently<br />
bumped off from an overbooked flight?<br />
This is when you’re thinking, air travel sucks. No matter how<br />
much time you spend planning a perfect trip, things might still<br />
go wrong. When faced with air travel snafus, the first question<br />
many flyers ask is, “Am I entitled to compensation or refund?<br />
What are my rights?”<br />
We have the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM),<br />
an independent body set up in March 2016 under the<br />
Malaysian Aviation Commission Act 2015 to regulate economic<br />
and commercial matters related to civil aviation. MAVCOM<br />
introduced the Malaysia Aviation Consumer Code in July 2016<br />
providing guidelines on air passengers’ rights including flight<br />
delays and cancellations, loss baggage, denied boarding and<br />
other travel-related woes. The Code applies to Malaysians air<br />
travellers and foreign airlines landing at Malaysian airports.<br />
Here are air passenger rights that you should know and how<br />
you can exercise them when things go wrong with your flight:<br />
18 · WWW.<strong>GOASIAPLUS</strong>.COM
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