Ethiopian Airlines warned on violation of travellers’ rights

Comesa Competition Commission (CCC) has warned Ethiopian Airlines against violation of passenger rights through what it terms as misleading statements about its customer service policies.

The CCC in a statement said it had received complaints from passengers travelling from Cairo, Egypt, to Nairobi via Addis Ababa on how the airline mistreated them.

“The passengers contended that on November 11, 2018, they were denied boarding their connecting flight due to over booking by the airline,” said CCC in the statement released on Monday.

The affected passengers told the commission that the airline offered to compensate them with a voucher equivalent to $200 (Sh20,000) redeemable at their destination.

However, the commission heard that the airline did not fulfil its commitment as they were compensated with 50 percent of the voucher amount.

“The Commission considered the incident as a violation of consumer rights. This was an instance of false representation pursuant to Article 27 (1)(k) of the Comesa Competition Regulations,” the commission noted.

The commission said it engaged Ethiopian Airlines and upon its admission, the consumers were fully compensated and the airline “undertook measures to minimise the risk of similar occurrence in the future”.

The commission expressed concern of high prevalence of misleading representation and unsatisfactory customer services in the air transport sector.

In this regard, the commission warned Ethiopian Airlines against such conduct, saying it would face dire consequences in future over such violations.

This comes as Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam on Tuesday won the accolade of ‘African Champion of the year’ for their intra-African partnerships, reaching 40 countries on the continent during the CEO forum in Kigali.

The Africa CEO Forum is the largest international gathering of African private sector decision-makers and financiers. At its previous edition in Abidjan in March 2018, it brought together 1,500 business leaders, public decision-makers and investors from Africa and around the world for two days of discussions on the need to transform African champions in the face of international competition.

The Forum is organised by Jeune Afrique Media Group, publisher of Jeune Afrique and The Africa Report, and by Rainbow Unlimited, a Swiss company specialising in the organisation of economic promotion events.