Delays in service have dire consequences

Ms. Wang, who works in Beijing, took four flights in two weeks, all of which were delayed: on July 15, she flew from Beijing to Hangzhou, which was delayed three hours for unknown reasons; On July 18, a flight from Hangzhou to Beijing was delayed four hours due to "flow control". On July 23, a flight from Beijing to Xi 'an was delayed for one hour and again suffered from "flow control". On July 26, Xi 'an flew to Harbin, delayed by one hour and reported "bad weather". More intolerable, she said, was the staff's service after a flight delay: slow notification of the cause of the delay, unconvincing veracity and indifference.

China Consumers' Association released the top 10 complaints in the first half of 2010, in which the number of complaints about air services rose 79.9% year on year, and flight delays were blamed.

"Bully plane door", "kneel door", "gang fight door", "refuse to load door"...... Disputes between passengers and airlines caused by flight delays in many domestic airports have not been properly resolved, resulting in escalation of conflicts, frequent occurrence of vicious group incidents, and serious damage to the reputation and benefits of airlines.

Why is the flight delayed

Compared with road, rail, sea and other transport channels, the reasons for flight delays are more complex.

Generally speaking, it involves weather reasons, air traffic control, mechanical failure, passenger factors, aircraft deployment and other reasons. Airport, airline, air traffic control department, jet fuel and aviation information five departments, any one of the problems, are likely to cause flight delays.

According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in May, 39.47 percent of flight delays were caused by airlines, 29 percent by flow control, 24.44 percent by weather and 5.1 percent by other factors.

Professor Wu Tongshui, president of The Civil Aviation University of China and director of the CAAC Air Transport Economics and Management Science Research Base, pointed out in an interview that flight delays are essentially caused by the fact that the capacity of available flights cannot meet the demand of the continuous increase in the number of flights, making flights relatively crowded.

In addition, With a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers and a population of 1.3 billion, China has only more than 100 airports in total. Compared with the reality of the United States, which has more than 500 commercial transport airports and 18,000 airports of different sizes, there is a huge gap in airport construction.

Airline capacity increase can't keep up with the rapid growth of air transport demand, including aircraft, pilots, flight, dispatch personnel is very short, less capital investment to airlines, airlines ratio on the high side, it is difficult to set aside more mobile capacity for a rainy day, combined with the management of state-owned airlines is the basic means to examine the economic performance, The direct impact of "efficiency as a hero" is that airlines pay more attention to economic benefits and ignore social benefits.

Weather accounts for more than 20% of flight delays each year. Weather is an uncontrollable factor for airlines. In addition, food supply, fuel security, joint inspection, ground accidents, accidents and other reasons can also cause flight delays.

Service after flight delay

On June 21, the flight of Air China was delayed for 9 hours. On July 20, the Flight of Shanghai Airlines was delayed and passengers were stranded at the airport overnight. The airport staff said, "We can't control it". July 22, China Southern airlines flight delay, passengers in the case of economic compensation failed, in the middle of the night, one by one to call the airline leaders for explanation...

In view of the contradictions and conflicts caused by flight delays in China, CAAC issued the Guidance on Economic Compensation for Flight delays as early as July 1, 2004. At the beginning of 2010, Civil Aviation Administration of China issued the Special Rectification Work Plan for Ensuring normal Flights and Large-scale Flight Delay Emergency Response; On August 24, 2010, the Civil Aviation Administration cracked down on delays, with 2% backup capacity weighing heavily on airlines.

Airlines and airports are also getting active. Recently, China Eastern Airlines United Insurance Company launched "flight delay insurance" for the first time to attract public attention. Eastern airlines regulation, want to pay 20 yuan only ginseng to protect, if flight delay exceeds 4 hours, can obtain compensate 600 yuan higher; If the luggage is delayed for more than 8 hours, the higher compensation will be 1000 yuan. If the flight is cancelled due to force majeure, passengers can also be compensated 600 yuan. Other airlines have set their own compensation standards.

China's aviation industry is currently suffering from the increasing demands of domestic passengers for compensation and rights and interests, as well as the frequent occurrence of mass incidents at airports. Therefore, the services in place, timely, so that passengers can really understand the relevant information, is to stop the occurrence of group incidents.

Zhang Qihuai, secretary general of The Aviation Law Committee of Beijing Bar Association and lawyer of Beijing Lanpeng Law Firm, believes that the failure of timely, true and effective communication of service information after flight delay and the inadequate follow-up arrangements of airlines are the root causes of mass incidents after flight delay. No matter the flight delay is caused by the airline itself or other force majeure, it is the obligation and basic requirement of the airline to timely release information, make great efforts to arrange follow-up flights, and arrange accommodation for stranded passengers.

Zhan Jiang, a professor of international journalism and communication at Beijing Foreign Studies University, focuses on information communication. He believed that the asymmetry and ambiguity of effective information dissemination after flight delay resulted in frequent group incidents. The causes of flight delays are complex, but the transparency and authenticity of information delivered to passengers after flight delays are the key to solving the problem.

There is an urgent need to change the way flights are served

In developed countries, although the air transport market has been more mature, but the air transport enterprises are also facing the problem of abnormal flights. According to data, since 1995, flight delays in the United States have increased by 58 percent and cancellations by 68 percent, which alone cost U.S. airlines and passengers as much as $5 billion a year in economic losses. In spite of this, the mass incidents in the airport rarely happen, and its handling ideas and methods are worth our thinking and reference.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation's 2009 Air Travel Consumer Report, United ranked first among the five U.S. global airlines in on-time performance for domestic flights in 2009. And in the first half of 2010, United continued to rank first in on-time performance.

A Spokesperson for United airlines said: "We usually provide customers with information about the cause of the delay, the expected length of the delay and when the flight will take off in a timely and transparent manner." In the event of prolonged delays or cancellations, the passengers concerned will be informed of their legal rights and the means to exercise them. We will offer discount or compensation to passengers according to the time of delay and actual situation.

European airlines will provide passengers with timely service and reasonable compensation in strict accordance with eu regulation 261.

European airlines hand out free phone cards and offer quality meals and restaurants. After the delayed flight arrives at its destination, the local airport has a special team to meet the passengers and help them change planes. After the delay is dealt with, they will conduct a sample survey of the guests, including passengers' handling of the delay, the attitude of the airline staff, efficiency and quality of accommodation and other aspects of service satisfaction.

Jal, ALL Nippon Airways and other Japanese airlines have clearly stipulated in their Respective Domestic Passenger Carriage Terms (hereinafter referred to as the Terms) the handling principles for non-performance of the contract such as stoppage and delay. In the event of flight cancellation or change due to security requirements, inclement weather, force majeure, acts of dispute, riots, wars and other unavoidable causes in accordance with the Provisions of the Terms, if the flight is cancelled or changed before the start of the trip, other flights of the company may be changed; If the passenger fails to perform the contract after the start of the journey, the airline company shall use its own flight or another company's flight or other means of transportation to transport the passenger to the destination of the first destination. If the transportation cost is different from the original ticket price, the airline company shall refund more and compensate less, and the passenger shall no longer bear the cost. Passengers can also opt for a full refund or an extension.

Aviation experts point out: flight delays are inevitable in the airline industry, and the key to the problem is that it is important to timely communicate with customers after delays. When the flight is delayed, the staff do not know anything about it, or even ignore it. Passengers feel that they have no right to know or even feel cheated, let alone active communication and compensation. This is a big sticking point.