Aviation Consumer Policy Reform - time for an Aviation Ombudsman

The Ombudsman Association has responded to the Department for Transport's consultation on Aviation Consumer Policy Reform.

Donal Galligan, Chief Executive, commented:

"This review is timely. We welcome the Department's aim to ensure that consumers are protected and treated fairly, and that best practice becomes commonplace in the aviation industry. The current system does not deliver that.

The way to achieve those aims, and deliver the benefits for both consumers and the sector, is to have a single mandatory ombudsman that can provide comprehensive and effective redress for all consumers and to provide holistic feedback and learning to the sector.

Charging consumers a fee to access redress is an anomaly in the aviation sector, as the consultation paper notes, and incompatible with best practice. And making ADR mandatory, but keeping multiple competing ADR bodies, will place a financial cost on the industry without providing the benefit needed to drive improvements.

We look forward to working with the Department, and other stakeholders, to ensure that consumers have the same rights and access to redress that they have in other regulated sectors."

The Ombudsman Association's full response to the consultation can be read here.