NCAA Mandates 30-Minute Updates to Passengers During Flight Disruptions

Airlines operating in Nigeria are required to provide passengers with updates every 30 minutes whenever a flight disruption occurs, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has said.

Michael Achimugu, Director of Consumer Protection and Public Affairs at the NCAA, disclosed the requirement while outlining passengers’ rights and airlines’ obligations during delays, cancellations and baggage disruptions.

He acknowledged that flight disruptions occur globally and are often beyond the airline’s control, but stressed that carriers still owe passengers a duty of care regardless of the cause. “Flight disruptions must continue to occur everywhere in the world. Now, where they have occurred, the airline, by the regulations, has duties of care to passengers. It does not matter whose fault that disruption is,” he said.

Achimugu noted that airlines are frequently not the direct cause of airport disruptions, even though they often bear the public blame. “Airlines, both Nigerian and international carriers operating in Nigeria, are not always the direct causes of the disruptions that occur at the airport. They may be the faces of it; they may take the blame a lot of the time, but they are not always the architects of those disruptions.”

He said the first obligation of an airline during a disruption is to provide passengers with timely and honest information. “Information is most critical and number one,” he stated. “Where a disruption has occurred, the airline holds the passenger’s information every 30 minutes on the status of that flight. Take note: timely and honest information.”

Beyond communication, Achimugu said airlines are required to provide refreshments and meals during prolonged delays. “Two hours into a delay, the airline is expected to provide passengers light refreshments. Six hours into a lengthy delay, the airline has to provide its passengers with proper meals. The airline may also owe its passengers hotel accommodation between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Depending on the circumstances, there are other scenarios in which passengers are also entitled to accommodation.”

On baggage mishandling, the NCAA official urged passengers to understand that filing a complaint does not mean their luggage must be returned the following day. “For baggage issues, this is very important. I realise in our experience here that most passengers, when their bag is short-landed today, expect that because they filed a complaint with the CAA, by tomorrow their bags compulsorily must also have arrived. That is not the way it works.”

He explained that under the Montreal Convention of 1999, international carriers have up to 21 days to locate and reconcile passengers with their baggage. For domestic flights, the window is seven days. “After 21 days for international and seven days for domestic, if your bag has not been found, the airline may then declare it lost and initiate compensation to the passenger owner of the bag.”

Achimugu also clarified that the NCAA follows due process before sanctioning airlines over consumer protection violations. Affected passengers, he said, must first file a complaint with the authority, which does not proactively source cases. Once a complaint is received, the NCAA may issue a Letter of Investigation to the airline. “An LOI means a letter of investigation. This is usually a precursor to enforcement. When we are asking the airline: this has been noticed with your airline, or this complaint has been filed, what do you have to say about it? Tell us what happened. Tell us what remedies you have put in place. How did you comply with the regulations when the disruption happened?”

An airline that provides satisfactory explanations and fulfils its obligations to passengers cannot be sanctioned merely because a delay or cancellation occurred, he said. “If we get a satisfactory answer and the airline has fulfilled its duties of care, it is not possible to sanction that airline. It is not possible or correct to sanction an airline because of a delay or cancellation if they have fulfilled the requirements of the regulations and provided you the duty of care.”

Achimugu recalled that the NCAA sanctioned airlines for the first time in its history in 2024 over consumer protection-related infractions. He said the sanctions were based on clear violations, adding that the chairman of one of the affected airlines publicly acknowledged the breach. “It was so undeniable that even the chairman of one of the affected airlines publicly acknowledged that he had researched himself and realised that his airline had done what was unacceptable, and he accepted the sanctions.”