Chinese air travellers cynical about draft rule on when airlines must pick up tab for food and lodging
If flight is delayed by weather or air traffic control issues, the passenger will have to pay
A new government rule aimed at the mainland’s notorious flight delays has not landed smoothly, with some passengers arguing it is unfair to make them pay for food or lodging if they are held up by bad weather or air traffic control problems.
Plane and train chaos as Beijing and Tianjin lashed by torrential rain
The rule, issued by the Ministry of Transport and which comes into effect on January 1, said airlines would only be responsible to provide free meals and accommodation to passengers if the delay was caused by the airlines themselves, such as through rescheduling flights or mechanical problems. Otherwise, airlines need only help passengers find accommodation and food, and it would be up to the travellers to pay.
Frequent delays have frayed travellers’ patience and they often take out their frustration on airline staff.
A ranking of the world’s 188 major airports on the basis of on-time arrivals placed 12 mainland airports among the 20 worst-performing. Their on-time rate was about 50 per cent, according to Flightstats.com, a US-based data provider on air travel. Data from the Civil Aviation Administration showed that between May last year to April, only 73 per cent of domestic airlines’ flights were on time, state television reported last month.
Long airport wait increases: average Chinese flight delay now up to 21 minutes
The average delay for flights last year was 21 minutes – two minutes longer than in 2014, the administration said.
Bad weather caused 34 per cent of the delays, while air traffic control and military activities accounted for 27 and 14 per cent respectively. Airlines were to blame for 19 per cent of the delays.