Flight delayed or cancelled? Don’t expect compensation in Australia

The Aviation White Paper, currently being prepared by the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, it has lit a flame of hope among consumer advocacy groups.

Several have speculated that this might lead to government legislation along the lines of the EU’s, where airlines are required to pay compensation to passengers affected by flight delays and cancellations. I’m not so sure.

The stated aim of the Aviation White Paper is to examine government policy and reforms to promote efficiency, safety, sustainability and competitiveness in the aviation sector. Toward the bottom of the list of areas for consideration is the item “appropriate consumer protections and access to services”.

That does not suggest robust consumer protection ranks high among the white paper’s objectives. Our airlines have clearly lost the plot. The notion of customer service and accountability has largely been forgotten. Our airlines delay and cancel flights at will because they can, and they can because our government does nothing to make them do otherwise.

My prediction – any attempt to force our airlines to offer compensation for delays and cancellations will be met with a concentrated campaign to scuttle any meaningful reform, pointing out that any such requirement will result in higher prices, and the government will wring its hands and do nothing.

We’ve been down this road before. In December 2009 the federal government published a National Aviation Policy White Paper, a comprehensive policy statement to map the future of Australia’s aviation industry. The white paper highlighted the need to safeguard the interests of consumers. While noting that “the Government is reluctant to burden industry with further regulations in this area,” the government waved a stick, saying it “will monitor the industries (sic) efforts to develop proposals to better handle consumer complaints over the coming year, and will consider a more interventionist approach should this become necessary.”

Sensing turbulence, our airlines banded together and created the Airline Customer Advocate, a glove puppet founded by and funded by the airlines, essentially a defence mechanism, ensuring they are rarely held to account.