Editorial

As the airline industry struggles to cope with the volcanic ash cloud, with accountants counting the cost of the cancellation of so many thousands of flights over the past few days, passengers hit by the grounding have had, and many are still having, a hard time indeed. Thousands have successfully made alternative travel arrangements to reach their destinations, with most taking trains, and the well-off hiring cars or, in some cases, even taking taxis. But, for a number of reasons, thousands of others have not been so lucky, and are still trying to sort out their problem, or simply waiting at airports until their flights take off.

It is in times like the present, when airlines, which so often boast of their services in glowing terms in advertisements, come to be better judged for the care they give, or do not give, to passengers. To the shame of some airlines, thousands of passengers have already been let down, with some simply advising them, through telephone messages, or other means, to rebook or claim a refund, leaving them pretty much high and dry. Air Malta, at first criticised by some passengers stranded in Brussels for not offering any assistance, was principled enough to reverse its stand later when it clarified the situation and was therefore able to help clients.

True, the disruption (63,000 flights were cancelled in four days) has been caused by "extraordinary circumstances", an act of nature well beyond anyone's control. But, as the European Commission pointed out so well, although the disruption was an uncommon event, it did not mean that passenger rights were being cancelled along with their flights. It was all very well and indeed most praiseworthy for the airlines to avoid taking risks, to themselves and to the travelling public. This is after all what the public expects of civil aviation generally. However, passengers have rights too. Besides being given the obvious facility to rebook or reimburse, they expect to be given assistance in their effort to find the right way to reach their final destination.

According to EU rules, which came into force six years ago, the air carriers' obligations are "limited or excluded in cases where an event has been caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken". As the volcanic ash cloud falls under this clause, the airlines are not obliged to compensate passengers for delays or cancellation. Of the many issues (and there are many important ones, including lack of coordination) that have yet to be thrashed out in the wake of this blow to aviation, consumer protection would, in all probability not figure high in the agenda, as, with good reason, safety in the air takes precedence over other matters. But at some stage or other, it would definitely need to be brought up and an in-depth assessment made of the way airlines and airports handled the situation.

Extraordinary circumstances of this nature may not happen often, and God forbid they do, but when the ash settles, as it eventually would, hopefully sooner rather than later, and air traffic returns to normal, the EU commission and others would do well to see if passengers were treated well, or as well as could be expected, in the emergency situation that had arisen, and what new measures could be introduced to help ease the frustration and hardship they face in such circumstances.