There were around 300 cases of passengers refusing to budge from airliner seats to reinforce their claims for compensation for flight delays in China last month.

They took that extreme action following the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC)'s issuance of a service directive on July 1, claiming that airlines would compensate passengers for man-made delays.

Now airports and airlines are saying customers have misread the directive and their extreme action has affected the timely issuance of detailed compensation rules.

The country still lacks a civil aviation law to cover all these issues. The directive from the CAAC was a first step in reducing flight delays and upgrading the industry's service.

It is expected that air carriers will outline specific compensation measures to deal with problems in their performance.

Statistics from CAAC's Consumers Business Center indicate that consumer complaints last year increased by 27 per cent over the previous year and concerns about delayed flights topped the list.

Consumers hailed the directive because it backs them in their efforts to get due compensation for delays carriers routinely provide no explanation for.

On July 5, Shenzhen Airlines Co Ltd responded by releasing detailed rules to compensate affected passengers with cash for delayed or over-booked flights if the problem is the airline's responsibility.

Most other carriers, however, have not followed suit.

Flight delays are unavoidable. But good customer service can help avoid unpleasant conflicts.

When problems occur, passengers have the right to know and to make a choice about getting due compensation.

Their rights should be fully respected.

However, the extreme actions some passengers have resorted to by occupying planes and runways are irrational and illegal.

They are not the solution.

(China Daily August 4, 2004)