“Prior to the setting up of Mavcom, passengers were sometimes at the mercy of the airlines, but now Mavcom can take action against airlines.”
Malaysian Aviation Commission executive chairman General (Rtd) Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad on complaints by passengers.
THE Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) has claimed that it has proven to be highly effective at resolving air passenger complaints and fulfilling its pivotal role of safeguarding the rights of consumers in the aviation industry.
It resolved 99 per cent of 2,600 complaints by air travel passengers it received as of November, said executive chairman Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad.
He said this was a major advancement in safeguarding the rights of consumers in the aviation industry in Malaysia, as previously passengers had little recourse.
“The commission’s efficiency has led to 35 million out of the 90 million passengers who travel in Malaysia to benefit in terms of ticket price transparency, as well as not having to pay for services they didn’t need.
“Prior to the setting up of Mavcom, passengers were sometimes at the mercy of the airlines, but now Mavcom can take action against airlines if they do not entertain complaints by passengers or in the absence of a satisfactory response.
“Mavcom has the power to impose penalties on airlines which do not take action,” he said in an interview recently.
Many of the complaints centred around air ticket refunds, damaged or mishandled baggage and flight cancellations.
Others include online booking issues, being denied boarding, customer service complaints, inflight services, frequent flyer programmes, food and beverages, upgrading of flights and special assistance for persons with disabilities.
Under Mavcom, most of the complaints were resolved within 30 days, a move which clearly reflected the commission’s effectiveness in protecting air travel consumer rights, said Abdullah.
Its role also included equalising passenger service charges (PSC) for long-haul flights at Kuala Lumpur International Airport and klia2.
A clear reflection of its role in protecting consumer rights was the introduction of the Asean Tier, where charges for Asean travel would be reduced to RM35 from RM65.
That meant that a passenger who flew on long-haul destinations would pay a higher rate compared with a passenger flying to an Asean destination.
Malaysia is the first country in Asean to introduce the Asean Tier, he said, adding that PSC paid by Malaysian passengers remained the lowest globally.
Abdullah said airlines were also keen to deal with consumer complaints quickly to safeguard their reputation.
Mavcom was set up in March last year to regulate economic and commercial matters related to civil aviation in Malaysia, including consumer rights.
However, Abdullah said awareness of their consumer rights was still lacking among air travel passengers, which was why Mavcom would undertake activities to create greater awareness.
Mavcom chief operating officer Azmir Zain said the Malaysian Aviation Consumer protection Code laid out certain rights for the consumer, for instance providing entitlements in cases of flight delays, flight cancellations and damaged luggage.
Azmir said the code spelled out the minimum service levels to be complied with, including price transparency, disclosure of terms and conditions for a ticket and providing adequate access for persons with disability.
The consumer protection code also prohibits airlines from automatically adding on products or services onto a passenger’s airfare without the passenger having actively chosen that product or service.
Azmir said prior to the introduction of the consumer protection code, airlines, via their booking websites, were able to add on additional products or services onto a consumer’s ticket without the passenger having chosen that product or service.
Asked on plans for next year, he said Mavcom would roll out an airport quality of service framework to incentivise the improvement of service levels at airports in Malaysia. Bernama