Law revision should be fair on compensation for delayed flights

Passengers look at a board showing delayed flights in Beijing Capital International Airport on June 13, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

THE CIVIL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION OF CHINA recently published the proposed draft of the amended Civil Aviation Law to solicit public opinions. Beijing News commented:

There are many causes of flight delays, such as bad weather, bad management, as well as air traffic control. In the past, passengers had many complaints about airlines because some of the airlines delayed flights for their own reasons, but lied to the passengers by saying the cause was "air traffic control".

The draft has made huge progress in this respect, because it requires airports to publish information about air traffic control in advance of a flight. That will greatly enhance transparency, thus preventing airlines from lying.

Also, the existing civil aviation law only requires airlines to timely share information about flight delays with passengers, but the draft of the amended law says they must render service to the passengers, too. That will help alleviate the anxiety of passengers when their flights are delayed.

But there are setbacks in the proposed revised law, too. The current law says that airline companies must compensate passengers for losses caused by delayed flights, unless they can prove they have taken all necessary measures; the draft changes that to "unless airlines prove they have taken rational measures". That is a huge loophole because it is really difficult to judge what is rational.

Besides, the draft does not make any improvements on the compensation airlines should pay passengers in case of delay. Actually, it is disputes over compensation that cause the most quarrels, even violent incidents, at airports.

Currently the law has no clear standards on the compensation airlines should pay passengers when flights are delayed. According to CAAC guidelines, airlines have the say in deciding how much compensation to pay. In practice they always tend to compensate very little.

In order to change this, it is necessary for the law to set clear and unambiguous compensation standards for delayed flights. And the standards should not be too low, because only with ample profit pressure will airlines be encouraged to minimize flight delays.

Worse, the draft is unfair because it says that those causing disorder in airports might face a fine up to 50,000 yuan ($7,533), which is quite high. That means passengers are given more obligations than airlines. The draft should be revised to avoid such unfairness.