Procon-PE suspends Avianca ticket sales.
The Pernambuco Consumer Protection Agency (Procon-PE) acted firmly in punishing the airline Avianca for "flagrant disrespect to the consumer." According to Procon-PE, Avianca (Ocean Air) rescheduled and canceled flight 6311, which was to depart from Recife to São Paulo, three times in a row. Furthermore, the company allegedly failed to provide adequate assistance to passengers. Due to these problems, Procon ordered the suspension of sales of all the company's flights to any destination in the country from Pernambuco for a period of eight days.
PE247 - The Pernambuco Consumer Protection Agency (Procon Pernambuco) acted swiftly and decisively in penalizing the airline Avianca for its "flagrant disregard for consumers." According to the consumer protection agency, Avianca (Ocean Air) rescheduled and canceled flight 6311, which was to depart from Recife to São Paulo, three times in a row. Despite the existing problem, the company continued selling tickets for the same flight. Due to these irregularities, Procon ordered the suspension of the sale of all the company's flights, to any destination in the country from Pernambuco, for a period of eight days.
The problem started last Sunday (28), when the flight that was supposed to leave for São Paulo at 7:55 am had its departure postponed to Monday (29), at 10:17 am. The scheduled date, however, was rescheduled once again for 20 pm on the same day. Then, the flight was cancelled and no rescheduling date was given. At the same time as the flights were being scheduled and cancelled, Avianca would have continued to sell the tickets normally.
According to Procon (Brazilian consumer protection agency), the company also failed to provide adequate assistance to passengers, in addition to not informing them of their rights under Resolution 141 of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC). This resolution guarantees that, in case of a delay exceeding four hours, the passenger can receive a refund for the airfare, be rebooked on another flight with the same company or other companies, among other options. The problem registered in Recife affected 95 passengers.
The situation was only resolved after Procon-PE (the consumer protection agency of Pernambuco state) intervened to ensure the company arranged for the passengers to be rebooked on other airlines' aircraft. The last passengers were able to board early Tuesday morning.
In addition to prohibiting the sale of tickets on flights departing from Recife, Procon-PE (the consumer protection agency of Pernambuco) issued two official notices of violation that could result in fines of approximately R$ 500.