KUALA LUMPUR – Airlines should not be raising airfares as a result of new consumer protection rules that require carriers to offer refunds for flights delayed for five hours or more or rescheduled, a Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) official said.
Mavcom director (consumer and public affairs) Pushpalatha Subramaniam was reported saying the cost of compliance with the revised Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code (MACPC) 2016 should not be significant. The amendments came into force yesterday.
“We monitor the prices of domestic air tickets and we present this to the Transport Ministry every month,” The Star reported her saying at a press conference yesterday.
She also said foreign airlines are subject to the revised code, which covers all flight disruptions in Malaysia.
“(It) applies to all airlines, including foreign airlines operating in and out of Malaysia,” she said.
The revised MACPC is just in time for passengers on the cancelled Malaysia Airlines flight, MH66, from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Seoul that turned back to land in KLIA after over an hour in the air on Sunday (September 2).
Pushpalatha said passengers will be entitled for a refund for thecancelled flight, if they choose not to continue the journey, because the amendments to the code had already come into force.
The refund must also be given according to the original mode of payment within 30 days from the date the passenger submits a complaint to the airline.
Unresolved complaints are to be submitted to Mavcom by the affected passenger, she added.
Airlines that don’t comply with the new rules face a maximum penalty of RM200,000, which would increase ten-fold after the first offence.
The amended code also states that airlines must offer a refund disrupted by “extraordinary circumstances”. The first offer of a refund must be in the same mode of payment for the flight, and then only alternative forms of refund such as travel vouchers or credit shells. Consumers maintain the right to decide their preferred mode of refund.
Prior to these amendments, airlines were only required to provide travellers with food, phone calls, Internet access, accommodation and transport from between the hotel and airport, for flights delayed more than five hours. – September 3, 2024