Flight delays, difficulty in refunding amounts paid and slowness in returning money, problems recorded during the pandemic, are the main consumer complaints against airlines Gol, Azul and Latam, which will have, from today, ten calendar days to explain to the MJSP (Ministry of Justice) and thus try to avoid possible fines and sanctions.
“Watching over the economic and social well-being of the citizen, the Ministry of Justice is giving airlines a period of ten consecutive days to explain themselves. Under penalty of fines and other punishments established by the Consumer Defense Code”, said the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Anderson Torres.
According to Senacon (National Secretariat for Consumer Protection), complaints in this regard grew 410% from 2019 to 2021. The number of complaints registered on the Consumidor.com.br platform jumped from 5,160 in 2019 to 26,407 last year. In relation to 2020, the growth of complaints was 130%, with 12,187 records. During this period, 43,754 consumers felt aggrieved.
noncompliance
Senacon, which celebrates ten years of activities, started an administrative process to investigate the complaints against the trio of companies. The Secretariat reinforces that the most serious problem refers precisely to the failure to comply with the emergency measures in force during the pandemic. “Consumers are having difficulties in recovering the amounts owed, according to extraordinary legislation”, pointed out the decision.
Leaders of state and municipal Procons in the capitals, as well as the Public Prosecutor’s Offices and civil consumer protection entities, are aware of the administrative process opened by Senacon.
The MJSP’s guidance is that complaints against the civil aviation sector started to grow again precisely at the time when consumers should use the options brought by the new federal regulation: reimbursement within 12 months, rescheduling of the trip or use of credit within 18 months of tickets.
“This shows that the temporary rules did not have the desired effectiveness, with regard to consumer protection”, emphasizes the decision of the Department of Consumer Protection and Defense. “In addition”, the text continues, it is concluded that companies may have failed to communicate with their customers, since most of the complaints presented on the consumer.gov.br platform refer to problems in the service channels and SAC
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