The General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) has approved a charter for the protection of passenger rights, which among other provisions calls for providing free hotel accommodation and transport to the passengers in case a flight was delayed for six hours or beyond. Quoting the official gazette, local daily Al-Madina reported the charter would come into force within 90 days. The charter asked all airline companies operating to the Kingdom to provide all support and assistance to passengers at any stage of their journey. The 22-article charter calls for a fine of SR50,000 on any airline company that violates its provisions. It said the companies should not refuse to transport any passenger when they are seats available of an upgrade. "The airline company should not cancel flights except in case of force majeure and should immediately inform the passengers of any flight cancellation or delay," the charter said. It said if a flight is delayed by four to 24 hours from the scheduled departure time and the airline is unable to arrange another flight within six hours and if the passenger decides to travel on another air carrier, the company should reimburse the ticket fare, in addition to a compensation of 100 percent of the ticket value. The charter said the passengers should be compensated for any baggage loss within a maximum of 30 days from the date of demanding compensation. It said if any airline company failed to reply to the compensation request within 15 days, this would indicate that the company has recognized the veracity of the compensation claim. The charter made it clear that no airline company should refuse to transport passengers of special needs after issuing them with tickets and giving confirmation of their reservations. It also asked airline companies to give special attention to the physically challenged passengers and provide them with free-of-charge services including wheelchairs at the time of boarding and disembarkation.
