‘Enough is enough’ – NCAA warns airlines delaying refunds

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has warned domestic airlines against arbitrarily extending the refund period for cancelled or unused tickets to four weeks.

This was contained in a statement by the spokesperson of the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, posted via his official X handle on Monday.

Achimugu, who said this is in direct contravention of existing regulations, stressed that rules on ticket refunds are unambiguous.

He stated that in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, passengers are entitled to receive their refunds within 14 days of making a formal request and not four weeks, as some airlines have allegedly claimed.

“Domestic airlines NEED to stop telling passengers that their refund process takes four weeks. There can’t be two captains-in-command on an aircraft.

“The NCAA regulations are clear about the timeframe for ticket refunds, and it is 14 days. Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023 remains in force. Operators cannot create a different rule in this regard,” he stated.

The NCAA spokesperson frowned on the growing trend of non-compliance, describing the same as a duplication of the aviation rules and undermining the NCAA’s mandate, adding that such acts of some airlines were not only unprofessional but also unfair to passengers.

He urged affected passengers to report any such violations to enforce compliance.

He said, “To all passengers: if you apply for a refund and an airline tells you that it would take 4 weeks, kindly forward that communication to michael.achimugu@ncaa.gov.ng, ifueko.abdulmalik@ncaa.gov.ng, and cpd@ncaa.gov.ng immediately.

“Enough of this. We cannot all claim to be working for the improvement of the industry and be duplicating rules in a manner that undermines the Authority and is unfair to passengers,” he added.