The Superintendency of Transport sanctioned 19 airlines in Colombia for abusive clausesafter carrying out 24 investigations for the alleged breach of the provisions of the Consumer Statute that prohibit the inclusion of abusive clauses in contracts.
(Female pilots, about 10% of captains in airlines in the country).
The penalties add up to a total of $1,478,099,196and some of the companies investigated must adjust those clauses that are prohibited by law, given that the rights of users in the sector could be affected
The investigations were carried out between February and March 2021, SuperTransporte inspected the websites of the airlines, with the purpose of verifying the availability and content of their contracts, to which users had access.
(They open investigation to Avianca and Price Res for unjustified advantage).
69 contractual clauses were reviewed, 56 of them contained abusive provisions such as the limitation of airlines’ liability and the waiver of user rightswhich could generate an unjustified imbalance to the detriment of travelers, affecting the time, manner or place in which they could exercise their rights.
The companies, furthermore, were unaware of joint and several liability in cases where flights are operated under the figure of shared code, the airline’s obligations were reduced, respect for reservations duly made by passengers were affected, and they failed to disclose users the changes or novelties that occurred on the flight or limited the responsibility in the transport of luggage.
According to the superintendence, they also affected the right to obtain reimbursements according to the regulations, restricted the right to obtain compensation and did not provide complete, truthful and suitable information on the way in which passengers could exercise their rights when conflicts arising from the interpretation or execution of the transport contract.
!. Aero República SA (Wingo)
2. Aerovías de Integración Regional SA (Latam)
3. Aerovías de México SA de CV (Aeroméxico)
4. Air Europa Lines SAU
5. Air France
6. American Airlines Inc.
7. Aerovías del Continente Americano SA (Avianca)
8. Avior Airlines C.A.
9. Panamanian Aviation Company SA (Copa Airlines)
10. Integral Logistics Services and Facilitation Air Company SA (Easyfly)
11. Fast Colombia S.A.S. (Viva Air)
12. Gran Colombia de Aviacion SAS (GCA Airlines)
13. Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España SA (Iberia)
14. Jetblue Airways Corporation
15. KLM Royal Dutch Aviation Company
16. Air Service to National Territories SA (Satena)
17. Spirit Airlines Inc.
18. Turkish Airlines Inc.
19. United Airlines Inc.
BRIEFCASE
*With information from EL TIEMPO