The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) says it has sent a letter of sanction to Kenya Airways over the cases of one Gloria Omisore and two other passengers.
According to a press statement by the Director Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, the penalties are for consumer protection-related infractions including right to care, failure to provide full disclosure of terms of carriage, failure to respond to the Authority’s request, failure to process refund and compensation, and lost baggage.
In addition to the fine in line with the NCAA Regulations 2023, the airline has seven days to pay the refunds and compensation of 1000 special drawing rights to the affected passengers.
The statement added that failure to comply with the letter will attract stiffer penalties for the airline.
The NCAA had in February announced that it has initiated maximum enforcement action against Kenya Airways for many consumer protection infractions.
Among the infractions is the airline’s refusal to tender an official apology, refund and compensate a Nigerian traveller, Gloria Omisore, within 48 hours.
According to the NCAA, while the airline requested an extension of one hour after 48 hours elapsed, it failed to comply with the agency’s determination.
It accused the airline of failing to send in a compliance report about a scheduled flight that was delayed for seven hours with no compensation for the passengers.
“The airline failed to discover the lack of a France transit visa and flew this passenger to Nairobi where she had a 17-hour layover, only to be told that she would have to endure a further 10-hour wait if she must be flown to the UK.
“Passenger then asks to be provided care for that 10-hour period as she is bleeding and needs to bathe. The actions of the airline staff following her request were down to poor passenger handling. Gloria Omisore was not an unruly passenger on the first leg of the flight, nor was she rude on the Lagos-Nairobi flight.
“We put the facts of the matter to the airline and rejected the misleading official statement put out by them.
“The determination was for the airline to update its initial statement to reflect the facts of the case. There has been no compliance. Rather, the original statement that obfuscated facts, in all of its royal misleading-ness, has been allowed to grow wings and fly.
“The NCAA gave the airline an opportunity to fix what was wrong. The airline has failed to do so. Earlier yesterday, the airline asked for an extension of one hour, after which they still failed to comply with the determination of the CAA.”
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