SMS: Compensation for flight delay

Wed, 06/25/2008 10:32 AM  |  Reader's Forum

The minister shouldn't need to be suggesting airlines offer compensation to passengers for flight delays. Airlines should take the initiative to offer compensation on their own.

Airlines that constantly delay their flights, or even worse, cancel their flights, should be held accountable for such actions. This is one of the reasons why I won't travel with such airlines ever again.
ANTHONY
Jakarta

Yes. However, it depends on how tolerable the delay is. One hour or so is still fine. But it's crazy to ask people to wait for six hours or even eight hours. It's about giving out the best service to the passengers. For this, the airlines should provide compensation for intolerable delays -- they just need to define "intolerable" first.
CATHERINE TANOTO
Medan, North Jakarta

It needs to be enforced. As the old saying, time is money. As flights keep being delayed there goes passengers' money. By compensating passengers, hopefully all airline will try harder to be on time.
YUDIAWATI
Jakarta

Yes, it would encourage airlines to be on time, and limit the productivity loss incurred by passengers.
HENDRI LUHUR
Jakarta

Yes there should be compensation for flight delays, especially longer than one hour.
MILA
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan

I agree with a decree on compulsory compensation for flight delays.
MASI
Jakarta

I fully agree to provide compensation to any passengers in the event of flight delays.
ASEP
Jakarta

It is great idea. Now airlines have an excuse to deny government officials, who regularly keep planes waiting for them.
THORSTEN
Semarang

Yes! This is a good measure to create checks and balances of their efficiency as a key performance index.
FAAWZI
Johor Bahru, Malaysia

All companies expect their contractors or professionals to work based on the schedule. Why isn't the airlines! It is expensive to fly. We should expect on-time service. Some comfort compensation should indeed be enforced. I am a frequent flyer!
KEVIN MCCOURT
Medan, North Sumatra

A decree demanding airlines to compensate passengers for flight delays should be enforced because if we are to be lenient in such a small matter, then how we can handle bigger problems?
RUDY D. SALIM
Jakarta

A regulation is stronger than a suggestion. It would be better for the minister to issue a tougher decree as soon as possible.

Airline companies have to learn the impact of their actions on the passengers who lose their time. They might also lose money for some cases. It'll also teach how to respect time as nobody wants to take the always-delayed planes.
MEIDI
Jakarta

Airlines have many safety problems as it is. Passengers should take out insurance to this effect like many Western airlines insist. We'll be demanding compensation from the government for road traffic delays next caused by potholes and flooding. Fat chance of getting anywhere there.
AL
Medan, North Sumatra

Every non-affirmative act has consequences. In Indonesia, customer service is the last concern of many companies. When we book a flight they just give us penalty for any time changes, why can't we do the same to them?

It's all about consequences, fairness and enforcing the tradition of being punctual and discipline.
GITA
Jakarta.

If the compensation scheme does not become law, it will be useless. I have a nice experience for you. On June 20, I flew with the most prominent Indonesian airline from Banda Aceh to Jakarta via Medan.

In Medan, we encountered technical problems with the airplane (the second time in two weeks).

I showed the ground staff an article on this issue, which just happened to be published in The Jakarta Post the same day. But they didn't want to know anything about this, claiming they didn't know how long the delay would be.

In the end, it was two hours. It would have been a nice gesture if they had given us at least a meal voucher. I think this is typical behavior of most airlines. Money is all that counts and the passenger is just a piece of cargo.
P. HEINRICH
Tangerang

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