Passengers on flights delayed by 15 minutes or more will be providedwith drinks, food or accommodation from December 1 this year.
This follows a circular recently issued by the Ministry of Transport.
The move was made in response to recent complaints about the increased number of delayed and cancelled flights.
Therange of services will relate to the length of the delay. For example,passengers on flights delayed by three hours or more will be entitled toa meal.
Those on flights delayed by six hours or more will besupplied with meals and accommodation, depending on the facilitiesavailable at each airport.
Under the circular, passengers on delayed flights get preference for the earliest substitute flights.
Airlines will also have to apologise to passengers for delays and explain what caused them and when the next flight will be.
However, passengers on flights delayed by bad weather and security reasons will not be entitled to the new deal.
Accordingto figures from the Civil Aviation Authority, exactly 2,057 or 13.8percent of the 14,942 flights to and from Vietnam in August 2014 weredelayed.
The Civil Aviation Authority has submitted a draft ofanother circular to the Ministry of Transport that requires aviationcompanies to provide compensation for passengers on flights delayed bymore than four hours. The current regulation requires compensation onlyfor cancelled flights.
If the circular is approved, customers ondomestic flights cancelled or delayed by more than four hours willreceive 200,000 VND (9.50 USD) for a flight that is less than 500km,300,000 VND (14 USD) for a flight of 500 to 1,000km, and 400,000 VND (19USD) for a flight of more than 1,000km.
However, thecompensation rate for international flights will remain unchanged at 25USD for a delayed and cancelled flight of less than 1,000km, 50 USD for aflight of 1,000 to 2,500km, 80 USD for a flight of 2,5000 to 5,000km,and 150 USD for a flight of more than 5,000km.-VNA
