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…Air travellers’re entitled to
‘…One can claim from 25% of
…Nigeria recorded 4,765
Flight delays and
The harrowing experiences of air travellers in Nigeria who routinely contend with delayed and cancelled domestic flights have once again brought the state of passenger protection in the aviation sector to limelight.
Recently, a human rights activist and lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, took to social media to accuse Air Peace of irresponsibility and impunity after his Lagos-Enugu morning flight was delayed until the evening.
The incident, which reportedly affected his scheduled court appearance in Enugu state, is only one of countless complaints by passengers who have had their plans disrupted by unreliable flight schedules.
Also, Blueprint Weekend recalled the case of Nollywood actress Bolaji Ogunmola, who broke down in tears on social media after multiple flight cancellations left her stranded at the airport. According to her, the disruption reportedly put a N20 million film production at risk and eventually forced her to undertake a road journey, despite the attendant risks.
Beyond such high-profile cases are thousands of ordinary passengers whose businesses, medical appointments, family engagements, examinations, conferences and other commitments are disrupted by flight delays and cancellations.
NCAA’s data on flight disruptions
The recent data released by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revealed that it recorded 4,765 light delays and 36 cancellations in the month of August so far.
The regulator, in its summary of domestic airline flight disruption operations in the country for August, revealed that 15 carriers operated 7,961 flights during the month, with roughly six in every 10 flights failing to operate on schedule.
Do travellers have a right to ask for compensation?
To answer this question, an aviation lawyer, Kikelomo Kadiri, said, “According to the NCAA Act, airlines are required to provide passengers with complimentary refreshments and up to two telephone calls, text messages, or emails to facilitate communication when a flight is delayed for two hours or more.
“If the delay exceeds three hours, passengers are entitled to either a refund of their ticket (to be paid within 14 days) or re-routing to their final destination at the earliest time possible.
“Where a delay runs into the night, the airline must also provide hotel accommodation and transportation to and from the hotel,” she said, adding that under Nigerian laws, airlines are further required to provide prompt and transparent communication about the reasons for delays and the expected duration.
She also said, “If a delay causes a passenger to miss a connecting flight or incur additional expenses, the passenger may request assistance or compensation, keeping all receipts and records as evidence.
“For flight cancellations, passengers have the right to either a full refund of their ticket within 14 days or re-routing to their final destination under similar transport conditions.
“Additionally, they are entitled to financial compensations, except in cases where the cancellation was due to extraordinary circumstances (such as adverse weather conditions or security risks) or when passengers were informed at least 24 hours in advance of the cancellation.”
Similarly, another aviation lawyer, Haruna Yusuf, said in cases where passengers fail to receive the mandated compensations as stipulated by law, there are multiple options available to such aggrieved passengers.
According to Yusuf, “Some of these options include complaining about the air carrier at the NCAA Consumer Protection Department or at the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).”
He also encouraged aggrieved passengers to file an action in the competent court of law for any complaint that the carrier has deliberately refused to address.
“Most especially if the passenger can prove that such a delay or cancellation has caused certain losses that a redress from court seems appropriate,” he said.
Also, a legal practitioner, Martin Boyit, said generally, the right of a passenger to compensate for a flight delay or cancellation will depend on the length of the delay and the reason for the delay/cancellation.
According to him, under Nigerian laws, by virtue of Part 19 of the NCAA Consumer Protection Regulations, passengers on domestic flights are guaranteed certain levels of compensation if they are denied boarding, their flight is delayed, or their flight is cancelled.
“You can claim from 25% of the ticket price as compensation based on the length of your flight delay, and the circumstances around the delay,” he said, but outlined some rules guiding flight delays and cancellations.
“It must be for a flight departing and landing within the domestic territory of Nigeria and the passenger must have a confirmed reservation on the flight that is delayed. He must have also presented himself for check in at the stipulated time, and if no time stipulated, then not later than one hour prior to flight departure time,” he said.
Filing for compensation
Boyit further explained the process of filing for compensation, saying, “To make a claim you will need your ticket or booking number, date of the flight, name of the airline, and if possible the reason given by the airline for the flight delay or cancellation.
“You will forward this with a claim letter detailing your experience with the airline (flight delayed or cancelled), and the inconveniences it caused to you.”
Boyit said further, “Different airlines have different procedures for claiming. Some accept complaints via email, and you need to send a written claims letter to others. If your claim for compensation is rejected by the airline, you may either choose to accept the rejection, or make a further complaint to the Consumer Protection Directorate of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA).
“When complaining to the NCAA, you will need to include: the details of your initial complaint letter, the rejection letter received from the airline and a cover letter to the NCAA asking them to review the rejection by the airline.
“If the Consumer Protection Directorate of the NCAA rejects your review, you may refer the matter to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council. Provide them with all the information on the complaint so far, and ask them to review the decisions and compel the airline to award you compensation.
“Finally, if the FCCPC fails to uphold your complaint, you may engage a lawyer and decide to take the matter to court.”
He further noted that at any step in the above process, the passenger may decide to go to court, stressing that “the steps listed above are just avenues to be exhausted if you want to use court action as a last resort.”
Aviation experts’ viewpoint
In his reaction, an aircraft maintenance engineer, Chris Okechukwu, said it is not every delay that is caused by airline negligence.
He said, “Aviation operations are complex, and technical faults, adverse weather, air-traffic constraints, airport infrastructure, bird strikes, maintenance requirements and other unforeseen circumstances can affect schedules. Indeed, the regulations recognise extraordinary circumstances beyond an airline’s reasonable control.
“However, this cannot become a permanent excuse for poor service. Airlines must improve fleet planning, maintenance schedules, operational resilience and customer communication. Where an aircraft develops a technical problem, operators should have contingency arrangements capable of limiting the disruption to passengers.
“Equally important is honest and timely communication. Passengers deserve to know what has happened, what is being done and when they can realistically expect to travel. The regulator, for its part, must ensure that passenger-protection provisions are enforced consistently.
“Complaints should be investigated promptly, compensation and refunds should be traceable, and sanctions for persistent non-compliance should be sufficiently meaningful to encourage better standards.
“The NCAA provides channels through which passengers can first complain to airlines and subsequently escalate unresolved complaints to the Authority. Government must also continue to address infrastructural and operational constraints affecting the sector, including navigation and airport facilities, while ensuring that investments translate into measurable improvements in reliability and safety.”
Reasons for flight delays
An aviation expert and a staff of the defunt Okada Air, Engr. Bright Iyorha, emphasised that not every flight delay is caused by an airline. He noted that adverse weather conditions, airport infrastructure problems, air traffic control restrictions, runway closures, security incidents, and bird strikes were some of the reasons for flight delays.
He said: “Bird strikes, for example, are the responsibility of the NCAA to address. It is categorised as a natural occurrence or force majeure. In the real sense, when flights are disrupted by bird strikes, it is the NCAA that should take responsibility and address the matter rather than pass the buck to airlines.
“Another case is bad weather. Most of the cases of flight cancellation arising from unclear weather conditions can be mitigated if there is adequate infrastructure. But in Nigeria, such ‘bad weather’ often leads to cancellation; you also can’t blame that on airlines since flights are often cancelled based on instructions from authorities.”
He recalled that in August, labour unions disrupted operations in Lagos and Abuja airports, thereby affecting the operations of most domestic carriers.
He stressed that it would be unfair for the NCAA to place a flight prevented from departing because access to an airport terminal was blocked in the same category as a delay caused by an airline’s own operational inefficiency.
He said regulation must distinguish between airline-attributable delays and external or system-induced delays.
“The NCAA has an important responsibility to protect passengers. Airlines that consistently delay passengers because of poor scheduling, inadequate aircraft, crew problems or other avoidable operational deficiencies should be called to account,” he added.
Also, a pilot, Captain Austin Kayode, said that many of the factors contributing to delays are beyond the airline’s control.
For instance, he said most of the nation’s airports lacked adequate, state-of-the-art infrastructure to sustain on-time performance (OTP).
Kayode said the priority of every airline should be safety and on-time operations, but declared that safety could not be relegated to second place ahead of OTP.
According to him, an aircraft could be forced to return to its departure airport if the weather is bad or the destination airport’s infrastructure deteriorates to a level that makes landing unsafe.
Continuing, he said, “If you get to the ramp early in the morning, there are times when the aircraft is blocked from moving simply because there are many operators operating today. A flight that pushes back at 6:59 a.m. eventually takes off at 7:38 a.m.
“The flight was supposed to arrive in Abuja by 8 a.m., but there’s already a 40-minute delay that the airline knows nothing about. Now, we are not saying delays will continue or that we intentionally want to delay flights. Airlines don’t want to intentionally delay flights, but the challenges we face are what bring about these delays.
“Secondly, we operate machines. Sometimes we have technical challenges. When these technical challenges occur, we must maintain the safety of that flight and ensure that everything is properly done and that the aircraft is fixed before it is released into service.”
Rather than solely blaming the airlines for flight delays, Kayode said the entire ecosystem ; airports, regulators, ground handling companies and others should also be held responsible.
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