Delayed Luggage: Air Passengers Assured Of Compensation

INCIDENTS of short landing by airline may not be a new phenomenon to frequent travellers, but it may sound strange, considering that these passengers checked in with their luggage at the point of boarding.

Many passengers are ignorant of the technicalities of aircraft operations. Those, who have knowledge of airline operations, would tell you that checking in your luggage at take off point is not a guarantee that the luggage would be airlifted with you. So, there is always the likelihood of you arriving at your destination before your luggage, especially when the aircraft is a passenger carrier and is loaded to full capacity.

A recent incident in Abuja, where some passengers came together to besiege the Tarmac and they prevented a Turkish aircraft from taking off, indicated that many Nigerian air passengers still don’t know their rights and the way aviation works.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) said an airline involved in short landing of passengers’ luggage is not violating either local or international aviation laws, provided adequate compensation is paid to the affected passengers.

The General Manager, corporate affairs of NCAA, Sam Adurogboye, said all foreign airlines operating in Nigeria signed Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) with Nigeria, adding that none of them have so far violated that agreement.

According to him, the problem is global, and not peculiar to Nigeria, and that it often occurs to guarantee passengers’ safety on board, as there is always the need to balance the weight of the aircraft to prevent “drag.”

Regarding the incident involving the Turkish Airline in Abuja, when passengers besieged the runway to protest the non-arrival of their luggage days after their arrival in Nigeria, he said the Airline did not violate BASA agreement.

“For a passenger to arrive his destination without his or her luggage is not out of place. If it happens, he should go to the Airline’s counter and make a report about the issue. He or she would be given a form to fill, after which he must demand for compensation. They can contact NCAA after exhausting all the available channels of intervention,” he said.

Explaining the reason for the recurring problem by airlines worldwide, he said all aircraft has permissible weight limit, and that once this is achieved, the only option is for the operators to drop some of the luggage for the purpose of balancing and to prevent drag of the aircraft during take off.

“Short landing is not a violation. When a flight is over-subscribed, as was the case with the Turkish Airline, when customers travel heavy, the tendency is for the Airline to drop some of the luggage because of the permissible weight limit. That they did not bring the luggage is not a violation, but the refusal to pay compensation when it happens. Once the plane has normal number of passengers, it would take full tank of fuel to avoid landing midway to refuel and that alone limits the luggage it can airlift. And once they reach the permissible weight for the aircraft, they close the luggage compartment.”

On the right of passengers, who suffer short landing, Adurogboye said the affected Airline has the obligation of conveying the luggage on eventual arrival to passengers’ homes free of charge, except in Nigeria, where the Nigeria Customs Service law does not permit such because service operatives would open the luggage for checks, which can not be done in the absence of the owner.”

He said what the passengers did in Abuja recently was a breach of the nation’s security and is punishable under the country’s criminal code.
“The way they rushed to the Tarmac is a criminal offence, because it is a violation of a restricted area. Such thing happens to us in other countries and we do not violate their laws, yet we come home to violate our own laws.”

On why Airline do not normally inform passengers of the situation of things relating to their luggage before take off, Adurogboye said, “No Airline in the world would tell you that your luggage will not arrive with you at your destination, because you do not know whose luggage will not come with that flight. It is a common occurrence for a passenger’s luggage not to arrive with them.”

He said the Airline had since compensated the affected passengers, with payments made under the consumer protection officer of the regulatory authority’ supervision, who ensured that the passengers were paid full monetary compensation, as contained in the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulation.

But the compensation was not paid until the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) threatened to sanction the airline, if it failed to compensate the passengers and if it fails to provide situation report on the incident that led to complaints bordering on abuse of customer’s rights.

In a letter dated January 21, 2015 and signed by its Director, legal services, Mr. Emmanuel Ataguba, CPC gave Turkish Airlines seven days to comply with its directive or face the full wrath of the law.

Also speaking on the matter, an aviation expert and the Director, Strategy, Zenith Travels, Mr. Olumide Ohunayo, said the airline and airport management were at fault in the Abuja incident.

To prevent a reoccurrence, he said passengers could help by reporting the issue to NCAA and the regulator, as well as sanctioning the erring airline appropriately.

According to him, the regulator should also sanction airport operators rather than picking on the weak link, which is the Airline. “If the regulations are firm and applied, then you are assured of appropriate dressing from all,” he said.

Others, who spoke on the issue, said Turkish Airline was just unfortunate that the matter to have come to national awareness. They said all airlines plying Nigerian routes are guilty of such happenings.

Mr. Okotie Oboche, a frequent traveller, who spoke on the matter at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos during the week, said he had suffered short landing many times, first time on a flight from London and the other on a flight to Houston.

“So, this thing has been happening. The Turkish Airline was just unfortunate that most of the affected passengers became agitated because of the season. Many of them were traders, who wanted to display some of the items in their luggage for sale during the Christmas period. If it were ordinary season, it would not have come to public domain, because it is not an isolated one. It happens everyday. But the only good thing about it is that people are now aware that you have to be compensated. But funny enough, when it happened to me in Houston, the airline paid me on the spot, collected my address at destination, where my luggage was delivered to me on the third day,” he said.