The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has said airlines operating in Nigeria are required to provide passengers with updates every 30 minutes whenever a flight disruption occurs.
The Director, Consumer Protection and Public Affairs, NCAA, Michael Achimugu, recently disclosed this while explaining passengers’ rights and airlines’ obligations during flight delays, cancellations and baggage disruptions.
Achimugu said flight disruptions were inevitable globally, stressing that airlines still had a duty of care to passengers regardless of the cause of the disruption.
He said, “Flight disruptions must continue to occur everywhere in the world. Now, where they have occurred, the airline, by the regulations, has duties of care to passengers. It doesn’t matter whose fault that disruption is.”
According to him, airlines are not always responsible for disruptions occurring at airports, although passengers often hold them accountable because they are the visible face of the disruption.
He said, “One message that has been most consistent from my department has been that airlines, both Nigerian airlines and international airlines operating in Nigeria, are not always the direct causes of the disruptions that occur at the airport. They may be the faces of it; they may take the blame a lot of the time, but they are not always the apostles of those disruptions.”
Achimugu explained that the first responsibility of an airline during a disruption was to provide passengers with timely and honest information. He said, “Now, what does the regulation say? Information is most critical and number one.”
He added, “Now, where a disruption has occurred, the airline holds the passenger’s information every 30 minutes on the status of that flight
“Every 30 minutes, are airlines complying with this? When your flight has been delayed at the airport, have the airlines been giving you information every 30 minutes? Take note: timely and honest information.”
The NCAA official said airlines were also required to provide refreshments and meals to passengers during prolonged delays. He said, “Two hours into a delay, the airline is expected to provide passengers life refreshment.
“Six hours into a lengthy delay, the airline has to provide its passengers with proper meals, proper meals. The airline may also owe its passengers hotel accommodation between the hours of 10 pm and 4 am. Depending on the circumstances, there are other scenarios in which passengers are also entitled to accommodation.”
On baggage mishandling, Achimugu said passengers whose bags were short-landed should understand that the filing of a complaint did not mean the luggage must be returned the following day.
He said, “Now, for baggage issues, this is very important. I realise in our experience here that most passengers, when their bag is short-landed today, expect that because they filed a complaint with the CAA, by tomorrow their bags compulsorily must also have arrived. That’s not the way it works.”
Achimugu said international airlines had up to 21 days to search for and reconcile passengers with their baggage, while the period for domestic flights was seven days.
He said, “By international regulations, especially the Montreal 1999 Convention, for international flights, the airline has up to 21 days, 21 days to search for and reconcile you with your bag. For domestic flights, it is seven days.”
He explained that where baggage was not found within the stipulated period, the airline could declare it lost and begin the compensation process.
He said, “So after 21 days for international and seven days for domestic, if your bag has not been found, the airline may then declare it lost and then initiate compensation to pay to the passenger owner of the bag.”
The NCAA official further explained that the authority followed due process before sanctioning airlines over consumer protection violations. He said passengers affected by an airline’s actions were expected to first file complaints with the NCAA.
“Another reason why we don’t just move straight to sanctions is that, look, there are processes. As far as the regulations are concerned, a passenger who has been affected must have filed a complaint with the CAA.
“The CAA does not shop for cases. But if someone who has been affected has filed a complaint, we may not even necessarily be able to look into some of those cases. When this has happened, and the passenger has filed a complaint, then we can write an LOI to the airline.”
Explaining the process, Achimugu said an LOI, meaning letter of investigation, was usually the precursor to enforcement action. He said, “An LOI means a letter of investigation.
“This is usually a precursor to enforcement. When we are asking the airline, this has been noticed with your airline, or this complaint has been filed, what do you have to say about it? Tell us what happened. Tell us what remedies you have put in place. How did you comply with the regulations when the disruption happened?”
According to him, an airline that provides satisfactory explanations and fulfils its obligations to passengers cannot be sanctioned simply because a delay or cancellation occurred.
He said, “And then if we get a satisfactory answer and the airline has fulfilled its duties of care, it is not possible to sanction that airline. This is very important.
“It is not possible or correct to sanction an airline because of a delay or cancellation if they have fulfilled the requirements of the regulations and provided you the duty of care.”
Achimugu recalled that the NCAA sanctioned airlines for the first time in 2024 over consumer protection-related infractions. He said the sanctions were based on clear violations, adding that the chairman of one of the affected airlines had publicly acknowledged the breach.
“This is why you may recall that in 2024, for the first time in the history of the CAA, airlines were sanctioned for consumer protection-related infractions. It was so undeniable that even the chairman of one of the affected airlines publicly acknowledged that he had researched himself and realised that his and that he was accepting the sanctions on the CAA because what his airline had done was unacceptable.”