Mavcom now targets mid 2023 for new rules allowing passengers to claim refunds for flight cancellations, delays

SEPANG, Jan 10 — Enhancements to the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code (MACPC), which will cover refunds for cancellations flights and delays, will be gazetted by end of June if all goes well.

Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) chief operating officer Raja Azmi Raja Nazuddin said the proposed enhancements will allow passengers to claim refunds for cancelled flights or those that are delayed for more than five hours.

It will also require airlines to provide information on overbooked flights.

“We had a consultation process last year and we hope to get another follow-up session with the airlines this month and then we get all of the internal approvals.

“We hope to gazette it, let’s say targeted by mid-year,” he told reporters during an airlines operation familiarisation programme for journalists at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport here today called “Airline 101”.

Raja Azmi said the process to get to the gazettement is still in the consultative phase.

“The dates are out of our control,” he said, adding that the time frame is subjective as there is always a possibility of things happening unexpectedly that could affect the process.

Mavcom was previously reported to have targeted the gazettement of the MACPC in the first quarter of this year.

Last October, local business daily The Edge quoted a statement released by Mavcom saying that: “Where an airline anticipates disruption to its operations, it is proposed that the airline should notify and submit a plan detailing consumer redress to Mavcom, which can then take appropriate steps to ensure the protection of consumers”.

The MACPC was gazetted in June 2016 and it applies to all local or international airlines, full service or budget carriers operating into or out of Malaysia.

Under the MACPC, airlines must provide care such as meals, telephone calls and internet access for flight delays of two hours or more; and must further provide accommodation and transport between the airport and accommodation if an overnight stay becomes necessary when the flight is delayed for five hours or more.

Mavcom has also previously said that consumers are entitled to a refund of their flight ticket within 30 days from the airline or rerouting under comparable transport conditions, if the timing of the rescheduled flight of three hours and more does not meet the consumer’s purpose of travel.