Public Defender: If a flight is cancelled, who pays?

THE ombudsman for airline customers says a gap in the law can leave customers out of pocket when flights are cancelled.

THE ombudsman for airline customers says a gap in the law can leave customers out of pocket when flights are cancelled and the solution could be regulated compensation, as exists in Europe.

Matters relating to cancellations have accounted for half of all the complaints to Airline Customer Advocate (ACA) Julia Lines since her position was created by the federal government in 2012.

More than 10,000 domestic flights were cancelled in Australia in 2013, according to the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics. Too often, in Ms Lines’ experience, customers are not reimbursed the cost of forfeited accommodation or missed connections.

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“It’s a gap that may need to be addressed by legislation,” Ms Lines told Public Defender.

Asked what was missing, Ms Lines raised a regulation passed by the European Parliament in 2004 which entit-les airline customers affected by cancellations to refunds plus up to $864, unless they have received two weeks’ ­notice or there are “exceptional circumstances”, such as dangerous weather.

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While the ACA is a one-person operation, Ms Lines is not flying solo, arguing more needs to be done for those left in the lurch.

“There is a potential gap” in existing consumer protections, Choice’s head of campaigns Matt Levey said.

Customer advocate ­Julia Lines.

The minister responsible for consumer policy, Bruce Billson, did not respond to ­requests for a comment.

Ms Lines, operating from a small office in Sydney’s CBD, deals with nearly 1000 complaints a year against either Qantas, Virgin, Jetstar, Tiger or Regional Express.

In 2013, she resolved more than 640 complaints. While Tiger is over-represented in ACA complaints figures, all five airlines “need to do more work in relation to their complaint handling”, she said.

I was unaware of Ms Lines until reader Melissa O’Grady simultaneously approached me and the ACA for help with a Jetstar complaint.

Ms Lines resolved the problem before I could get to it. “Julia is amazing,” Ms O’Grady told me yesterday. “She fought really, really hard for me.”

Yet Choice believes Ms Lines’ position lacks clout. It is also concerned that airlines fund and oversee the role.

Mr Levey said it “may well be time to revisit” the way it is structured to give it greater independence — and the power to impose sanctions.

Asked for her key advice to resolving a problem with an airline, Ms Lines said make only “one phone contact”.

“The airlines may disagree with that but the people I deal with have spent many hours on the phone to airlines without a satisfactory response,” Ms Lines said.

If the phone call doesn’t resolve the matter, make a complaint via an online “feedback form”, which ­expresses the problem in the customer’s words, rather than the airline’s. Make sure you receive a confirmation email the complaint has been received, she said.

The ACA can only ­become involved in a dispute after the customer has tried to resolve the complaint ­directly with the airline.

SCAMMERS STEAL MAIL BEFORE THEY CALL

RENEE Coble thought she knew the call was a scam the moment she heard the words “Western Union” — that and the fact “Barry Smith” had an Indian accent. The “Australian Government Reclaims Department” rort is doing the rounds again. But it is getting more sophisticated, with foreign fraudsters seemingly in cahoots with local thieves. It appears bills and letters were stolen from Mrs Coble’s Banora Point mailbox beforehand to help the scammers build up sufficient detail about her family to appear convincing. But Mrs Coble wasn’t fooled. The enticement of $7000 in refunds from supposed Telstra overcharging was not enough to convince her to first transfer $199
via Western Union for lawyer’s fees.
“As soon as he said: ‘Western Union’, I said: ‘This isn’t right’,” Mrs Coble told Public Defender. If you suspect you’re being duped, check the ACCC’s Scamwatch website.