Passenger benefits when the flight is delayed, cancelled or departs early in Vietnam

Passenger benefits when the flight is delayed, cancelled or departs early in Vietnam (Illustration)

1. Rights of passengers when their flight is delayed in Vietnam

1.1. What happens if the flight is delayed in Vietnam?

A delayed flight is one whose actual time of departure in Vietnam (calculated from the time of withdrawal of the aircraft) is 15 minutes later than the scheduled time of take-off according to the base flight schedule.

The base flight schedule is the last version of the airline's daily flight schedule updated to the Vietnam Aviation Administration, the Airports, the relevant Regional Flight Management Companies no later than 22h00 Hanoi time (15h00 UTC) of the day before the date of operation.

1.2. Rights of passengers when their flight is delayed in Vietnam

In case of flight delay, the airline in Vietnam is obliged to:

- Provide and update full information for passengers in appropriate manner; serve food and drink; arrange places to rest and sleep in accordance with the regulations on passenger service quality at airports promulgated by the Minister of Transport in Vietnam;

- Transformation of appropriate itinerary for passengers or transfer to another flight: for flights delayed by 02 hours or more, within the scope of providing air transport services, it is necessary to transfer the itinerary so that passengers can reach the end point of the itinerary, exemption from the conditions of restriction on itinerary conversion or flight conversion and related surcharges (if any) for passengers in Vietnam;

- Non-refundable advance compensation for passengers with confirmed seats and tickets on the flight in case of prolonged delays as prescribed by the Minister of Transport;

- Refund of tickets for passengers: in case of flight delay of 05 hours or more, refund the entire fare or refund the unused portion of the ticket at the passenger's choice at the airport or at the representative offices, branches or ticket sales agents in Vietnam appointed by the airline.

The refund of tickets for passengers is regulated as follows:

- Exemption from restricted conditions on ticket refund and ticket refund fee (if any);

- The ticket is completely unused, the refund will be equal to the amount of the ticket paid by the passenger; the fare includes the following: the price of transportation services; the taxes and fees prescribed by the State of Vietnam, the price of security screening services, the price of passenger service at airports, airports that the airline collects on behalf of; and other related surcharges according to the legal invoice provided by the passenger;

- The fare has been partially used, the reimbursement will not be lower than the difference between the fare paid and the fare, other services used for the passenger's journey.

2. Rights of passengers when the flight is cancelled in Vietnam

2.1. What happens when a flight is cancelled in Vietnam?

A cancelled flight is one that was not made on the basis of the airline's cancellation schedule.

2.2. Rights of passengers when the flight is cancelled in Vietnam

If the flight is cancelled, the passenger who is denied carriage to the airline is responsible for:

- Inform passengers of the reason for the cancellation or refusal of transportation;

- Perform the obligations specified in section (1.2);

- Perform the obligation to replace the obligations specified at Point b of Clause 4, Article 8 of Circular 81/2014/TT-BGTVT as agreed with passengers;

- Exemption from performing the above three obligations in case the passenger is denied transportation as prescribed in Article 146 of the Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam.

3. Passenger benefits when the flight departs early in Vietnam

3.1. What about an early departure flight in Vietnam?

An early departure flight is one where the actual time of departure (calculated from the time of withdrawal of the aircraft) is earlier than the scheduled time of take-off according to the base flight schedule.

3.2. Passenger's rights when the flight departs early in Vietnam

In case of early departure, the airline is responsible for:

- Inform passengers of the reason for the early departure of the flight;

- Perform the obligations for passengers who have confirmed the seat but fail to perform the flight according to the case of delayed flight according to section (1.2).

(Article 8 of Circular 81/2014/TT-BGTVT, Clause 4, Article 1 of Circular 21/2020/TT-BGTVT)

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