Aviation ministry starts process to have ombudsman for consumer grievances

Complaints against Air India, DGCA, AAI and Pawan Hans will be redressed once the omdudsman is instituted

The ministry of civil aviation has started the process of putting in place an ombudsman to redress passenger grievances and give binding orders.

Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapati Raju Pusapati has asked his ministry to start the process of creating an Ombudsman to look into the complaints of people against wings under the ministry like Air India, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Pawan Hans Ltd.

A senior ministry official said, "The idea is to create a body empowered to give binding directions in cases of complaints from public. It will create the much needed forum to ventilate and remedy grievances." The ombudsman will look into complaints and act as an arbitrator to settle disputes between consumers and the relevant organisation.

Data available with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) shows in 2012 scheduled airlines received a total of 9,440 complaints with a majority of them related to baggage claims. Data provided by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) indicates that the highest number of complaints received was related to airport services (47 per cent), followed by complaints about deficiency in vendor services (19 percent). The least number of complaints were made about customs (two per cent).

Some of the major areas of service deficiency on account of which passengers are dissatisfied relates to non-communication of flight information by airlines in case of change of schedules, delays and cancellations. Secondly, a study of data shared by airlines, airport operators and passenger associations showed that passengers have expressed grievances about not being duly compensated or refunded in case of cancellation of ticket or cancellation of flight by the airline.

Among others, passengers have complained about non-provision of refreshments due to delay on part of the airline, about charges levied on excess baggage, misplacement of baggage by airlines, non-compensation for baggage misplaced by airlines, denial of boarding.

In India, the institution of ombudsman exists in sectors like electricity, banking, insurance and income tax. At some point in time, it had also been recommended by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to establish an ombudsman for the telecom sector in India. Currently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) looks into grievances of fliers but the resolution of issues through this window has not met with much success as the regulator is short-staffed and is occupied with dealing with safety related issues.