Complaints about budget airlines operating in Hong Kong surge 10-fold

[Gimli]

Complaints about budget airlines operating in Hong Kong surge 10-fold

Complaints up tenfold over hidden costs, delays, cancellations and service quality

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 17 March, 2015, 2:33am
UPDATED : Monday, 14 September, 2015, 7:12pm

Samuel Chan
[email protected]

Flights with budget airlines could end up costing you more than those by full-service carriers, the Consumer Council has warned. Photo: SCMP

Flights with budget airlines could end up costing you more than those by full-service carriers, the Consumer Council has warned, after complaints about low-cost providers doubled last year to 764 cases - 10 times higher than 2012 total.

Price disputes topped the list of consumer complaints, with 298 cases recorded out of a total of 764. Delays and cancellations were the subject of 201 complaints, while the council recorded 165 gripes on service quality.

Early this year, the council surveyed 10 low-cost carriers, which make up 90 per cent of Hong Kong's budget airline market. The council found that most failed to offer passengers affected by flight delays or cancellations timely information and relied mainly on emails or the carriers' official websites to give updates.

Among the airlines surveyed were Hong Kong Express, AirAsia, Jetstar Asia, Cebu Pacific and Peach Aviation, which all run flights to and from Hong Kong.

One complaint the council cited involved a local resident being told his flight had been cancelled as he was about to return to Hong Kong from Malaysia. The passenger ended up paying for an extra night's accommodation and booking another return flight departing the next day.

After his return to Hong Kong, the affected passenger said the unnamed airline told him when he filed a complaint that the company had notified him by email two months earlier that the return flight had been cancelled, and that staff had confirmed the message was delivered. But both the passenger and his wife said they had received no such notification.

In such cases and those involving damaged or missing baggage, most budget operators offered only minimal compensation to satisfy international conventions, said Professor Michael Hui King-man, chairman of the council's publicity and community relations committee.

"The amount may not be adequate to compensate for any loss incurred, so we would advise [passengers] to buy travel insurance for extra protection," Hui said.

Budget airlines also charge extras, varying from HK$88 to HK$450 to check-in baggage and for services such as seat selection, food, drinks and ticket-related issues including changes to travel dates. Changes of destination or passenger name are in most cases impossible.

"If you're not aware of such restrictions, in the end you may be paying more than choosing traditional carriers," Hui said.

The council advises passengers travelling with budget airlines to check their email accounts more frequently the day before departure.

The 10 airlines reported different compensation policies. Some offered no compensation for flight cancellations or delays, while others gave free accommodation, food and compensation.