Supplied (Moneyweb)
The National Consumer Commission (NCC) has emphasised that overbooking and overselling airline flight tickets is illegal under the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
Hardin Ratshisusu, acting commissioner of the NCC and deputy commissioner of the Competition Commission, told a joint meeting of parliament’s portfolio committees on trade, industry and competition and transport on Tuesday that the CPA has specific provisions dealing with overbooking and overselling.
The meeting focused on competition issues in the budget airline industry. It follows the NCC's initiation of an investigation on 8 January into the conduct of overbooking and overselling by local and regional airline FlySafair to assess its compliance with the provisions of the CPA.
He added that, given the nature of the allegations against FlySafair, the NCC is conducting a priority investigation and urged consumers who are affected by this practice to come forward and provide information that could assist the investigation.
Ratshisusu said the FlySafair investigation is still underway, and information provided by consumers will be considered as the NCC investigates this matter.
He said the NCC notified FlySafair of the investigation on 8 January, the same date as the initiation of the investigation, and received an initial response from FlySafair on 30 January with a lot of supporting information and data.
‘Further probing required’
However, Ratshisusu said further probing of the submissions by FlySafair is required.
He said the initial plan was to conclude the investigation in the first quarter of the NCC’s 2025/26 financial year, but given the volume of information to analyse, the investigation is now planned to be completed in the second quarter of 2025/26.
He added that the CPA has specific provisions regarding overbooking and overselling.
Ratshisusu said suppliers are prohibited in terms of Section 19 (2) from broadly overlooking this provision, which entitles a consumer to receive the services they paid for as agreed with the supplier.
He said Section 22 gives consumers the right to information in plain and understandable language, while Section 41 prohibits suppliers from marketing goods or services falsely or in a misleading or deceptive manner.
Ratshisusu said Section 47 (2) is specific to overbooking and overselling, and it is quite clear that they are prohibited, except under limited circumstances.
He said Section 48 prohibits unfair and unreasonable contract terms, and Section 49 (3) obligates suppliers to inform consumers of certain terms and conditions that limit the supplier’s liability.
Ratshisusu said these are the provisions of the CPA it has used to initiate the investigation against FlySafair.
Incident
He said the investigation was initiated following an incident in which a consumer booked a flight and paid for it, but on arrival at the airport, they were informed that there were no seats available.
Ratshisusu said other consumers raised similar concerns, citing the impact of an airline not honouring a flight booking, including missing appointments, disruption to their travel plans, and the need for adequate compensation because of overbooking.
He referred to comments that the NCC should extend this investigation to other airlines, but the information the commission has to date “points to this specific airline [FlySafair].”
Dr Chris Hunsinger, a member of the portfolio committee on transport, said he was also affected by FlySafair overbooking and was “left standing in Joburg after flying up the same morning”.
“I really find the submitted reason that it’s common practice and of benefit to customers really surprising and totally unacceptable. It just cannot be,” he said.
‘Common practice’
Ratshisusu added that the NCC has picked up in the media some of FlySafair's responses to the investigation. It states that overbooking is a common practice in the industry to keep prices affordable, thereby implying that overbooking is done to benefit consumers.
He said some FlySafair comments also indicated that every ticket sold does not guarantee a passenger's arrival and asserted that there is no overbooking.
“If there is no overbooking, airlines would have more empty seats and consumers would need to pay a higher fare to cover the costs of those empty seats.
“These statements were not well received by consumers and this is something that is the subject of this probe by the NCC,” he said.
The joint committees' meeting earlier received presentations from the Competition Commission, the Department of Transport, the Airports Company of South Africa (Acsa), the SA Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS), and the SA Civil Aviation Authority. These presentations focused on competition in the airline sector and the charges and tariffs airlines charge these entities, which could impact the price of airline tickets for consumers.
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