The damage or loss of luggage is one of the five reasons that have motivated airline users to file a complaint with the Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office (Profeco), in addition to the refusal to refund the price paid and the cancellation of flights . Between January and November, the agency has received 393 formal complaints against the airline.
The airline told Expansion in an email that until now has managed to locate and deliver 97% of the pieces of luggage that were affected by the contingency and that the rest will be delivered in the course of the next few hours.
No food and lodging vouchers
Several affected passengers assure that Volaris has also refused to grant food and lodging vouchers despite the fact that flight delays exceed 24 hours.
According to Profeco, when delays or cancellations are greater than one hour and are attributable to the airline, they are obliged to cover the expenses of food, lodging and even transportation of the passengers.
“We have been here for two days… We have spent 4,000 pesos yesterday between the hotel, the taxi that brought us back and the food. And nobody does anything for us”, says the affected passenger.
A Volaris employee serving customers at a Tijuana airport counter on Saturday said the airline would not issue vouchers because the damage was caused “by no fault of the company” related to bad weather.
The airline assured Expansion in an email that the cancellations and delays registered since Thursday the 22nd, which collapsed the operations of the Tijuana airport on Christmas Eve, were due to the havoc caused in the United States and northern Mexico by storm Elliot.
If it is verified that the airline’s operations were affected by causes attributable to the airline, Volaris would have incurred in a violation of the Federal Consumer Protection Law and the Civil Aviation Law and would be obliged to offer food and lodging vouchers to passengers. passengers who have been affected.
Lack of information about flights leaves users adrift
Both legislations oblige airlines to provide “a high level of information” to passengers “so that they know their alternatives and can make options if required.”
“Here nobody tells you anything. Unless they tell us how many hours we have to wait, but they don’t even tell us that,” said a passenger on Saturday whose Mazatlán-Mexico City flight had been modified by Volaris two weeks earlier to add a stopover in Tijuana.
Volaris reported in a statement that until yesterday it had served more than 90% of the clients affected by the weather conditions and assured that it has the necessary technical-operational personnel to operate practically normally in the 71 airports where it has operations. presence.
“We have four days here… They do not solve anything for us,” says one of the 34,000 passengers affected by the cancellation of almost 200 flights.