In its first major ruling, the Consumer Protection Authority at the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) has made two airline companies here compensate passengers for delayed flights and for canceling their reservations. Ahmad Hantoush, Director of the Consumer Protection Authority, said the administration ordered the companies to refund the passengers' ticket fares and compensate them for the inconvenience they experienced due to the cancellation of their reservations and delay of their flights. He reiterated that the administration's door is always open to all passengers who have complaints against airline companies. He declined, however, to reveal the amounts refunded by the two companies. A source at the authority expects that Abdullah Mohammed Noor Rehaimy, GACA President, will soon sign an agreement with a law firm to compile an executive bylaw governing the protection of consumers. He pointed out that the bylaw will define the relationship as well as the rights and obligations of all parties dealing in the Saudi aviation transport market including service seekers (passengers) and service providers (airline companies and land handling companies), noting that the bylaw also refers to the mechanism to be used to solve disputes among any of the parties. Meanwhile, an official at Saudi Arabian Airlines has revealed that the rate of passenger ‘no-shows' has fallen by more than 50 percent, pointing out that while the number of passengers who failed to travel on their reservations was 124,257 for the months of February and March, 2008, the number fell to 57,717 passengers during the same period this year. He attributed this fall to the imposition of fines on passengers who do not fly on their scheduled reservations, pointing out that Saudi Arabian Airlines would impose the same fines on all domestic flights in the near future.
