THE Consumer Choice Centre (CCC) has urged the Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) to immediately implement amendments to the Malaysian Consumer Protection Code (MACPC) which should be implemented in 1Q 2023 to improve the rights of aviation users.
This is given issues such as flight delays and cancellations, reimbursement methods and overdue periods, passenger rights and voucher redemption have become more serious since the outbreak of COVID-19, according to the CCC Malaysian Chapter representative Tarmizi Anuwar.
“Although the pandemic has ended, this problem is still recurring and requires immediate action by MAVCOM to improve the rights of aviation consumers,” he asserted.
In 2022 alone, MAVCOM received a total of 8,789 cases of complaints from customers, of which the three highest complaints involve refunds, lost, damaged and delayed baggage and flight cancellations. This is the highest complaint case since it was first introduced in 2016.
Tarmizi further opined that the delay in the implementation of the MACPC amendment may cause the number of customer complaints and problems for this year to increase due to the development of international and domestic passengers as well as the increase in aircraft operations including the resumption of various flight routes after the pandemic.
“Airline consumers in Malaysia have been going through this problem for years and changes can’t be waited for any longer,” he stressed.
“It is important to ensure that the amendment is able to regulate airlines to comply with service quality and safety standards to protect consumers. With the increase in international and domestic flight operations in Malaysia, this amendment to the MACPC cannot be missed because there could be more technical problems.”
When a flight is cancelled, consumers should have the option of receiving either a full refund or a travel voucher for rebooking a new flight in the future, according to Tarmizi.
“While the travel voucher should not be limited to a certain trip or destination but should be based on the value of the trip or destination. This will give consumers a better choice to make a decision compared to airlines that make choices on behalf of consumers,” he noted.
Likewise, Tarmizi said the refund period for tickets that have a refund value due to the consumer not being able to board the flight as a result of flight delay or cancellation by the airline company should be shortened from 30 days to 10 days.
“There are many complaints about delays by airlines and the difficulties for consumers to get refunds even if the mistake was not on their part. In order to ensure that users are not burdened by unwanted situations, the repayment period should be shortened to 10 days,” he justified.
“This is a reasonable amount of time to ensure that airlines are responsible for settling user refund claims when a flight is cancelled or voluntarily cancelled.” – April 27, 2023
