Guest post by Marc Samouilhan.

Travelling and flying are quite stressful situations, and when a flight is delayed and/or cancelled this only adds to the stress levels. If you travel frequently then a having a flight delayed or cancelled is very likely, and not many people know what their rights are when it comes to this.

All airlines have a “Contract of Carriage” section in their terms and conditions which refers to how the airline deals with these situations. The issue in South Africa is that each airline has their own Contract of Carriage, and so there is not a standard set of guidelines or rules that they need to abide by. As such it is recommended that you ask for a copy of this contract of carriage every time you book a flight (and legally this needs to be made available to you where ever you can purchase tickets – airport, travel agents etc.).

Here are the basics you should know for each airline:

Kulula – You are entitled to a refund if your flight is delayed for more than 12 hours (yes 12 hours).
1Time – If your flight is cancelled then you will be put on the next available flight or given a refund.
Mango – If your flight is cancelled then you will get a refund or be put on the next available Mango flight.

There are two aspects that are common for all the airlines in South Africa:

1. you have the choice of getting the cost of the ticket back or being put on another flight.
2. The liability of the airline is limited to the cost of the flight only.

I hope this article helped to make a little sense of such unfortunate situations.

Click here to read the full article on www.travelsupermarket.co.za

Marc Samouilhan is the manager of www.travelsupermarket.co.za – visit the website to search for, compare and book flights and hotels.