Aviation Industry News
Aviation industry must protect passenger rights
Friday, 23, April 2010
I KNOW a lot of people who love travelling. Some find it a refreshing experience and others an adventure.But if you were one of those air passengers stranded in one of the many airports across the globe in the last few days, the likelihood of your temper flaring would have been high with the lengthy wait.To make matters worse, some hotels were charging three to five times higher room rates, taxi fares were up and businesses in many parts of Europe were cashing on the travellers’ plight.Due to that, some people had to camp at airports but it is not easy to sit or sleep on cold airport floors.
If you were a business traveller, your company would have picked up your tab but for those with little cash, it was one agonising trip with the ash clouding one’s travel plans.It began with the Eyjafjallajökull eruption on March 20 and a second eruption on April 14. This led to Europe’s airspace being covered with volcanic ash and a no-fly zone imposed from April 15 to 20.This resulted in 100,000 flight cancellations and hundreds of passengers stranded around the world.
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