FlyAfrica saga continues Nearly a year after the budget airline FlyAfrica was grounded in Namibia passengers are still fighting to be refunded for flights that were cancelled after the airline stopped its operations. More than 60 people have joined a Facebook group in an effort to get their money back.
The organiser of the group, Naville Geiriseb, says they want to hold a meeting to decide what action needs to be taken.
He says the aim of this group is to form a united front, because individual efforts have been in vain.
Geiriseb says the biggest challenge is that they do not know who to approach or what to do in these circumstances.
“Should we go to the ombudsman or to the Directorate of Civil Aviation, make a case at the police or should we go demonstrate at the office of the prime minister or should we take legal action?”
He says he paid about N$4 300 for his ticket, but there are others who spent much more.
“The problem is that the Namibian consumer is not protected and in this case nobody is being held accountable.
“Nobody cares that this airline came in here and defrauded passengers. We are at a loss and where should we go to report this?”
Geiriseb feels that Nomad Aviation should be held accountable as it was the formal partner of FlyAfrica in Namibia.
“But as soon as there was trouble with the airline they distanced themselves from the situation, but they were still convincing people to buy tickets even though they knew that they were not flying,” he says.
“It is not enough for Nomad Aviation to distance themselves from this. Imagine if the airline was a huge success, then they would be blowing their own horns.”
Nomad Aviation has made it clear that it did not sell tickets on behalf of FlyAfrica and that ticket sales were exclusively conducted by FlyAfrica.
According to Geiriseb there were a few customers who managed to get refunds through their banks. These individuals had booked tickets using their credit cards and went to their banks to lodge complaints of services not rendered.
Some of the affected people say FlyAfrica''s email address has been disabled. Although Flyafrica Namibia still has a Facebook page, the last status update was in November last year. The website of FlyAfrica Ltd no longer exists.
Some passengers were advised to submit refund claims to FlyAfrica''s South African operation, but that is in liquidation.
In Zimbabwe, local Fly Africa shareholder NU AERO has filed a lawsuit to recover an estimated $350 000 in online bookings.
Approached for comment on what Namibian passengers stand to do, the Legal Assistance Centre said it is not a matter for them as it is really a contractual breach between FlyAfrica and the public.
The LAC pointed out that Fly Africa had already acknowledged the breach and offered to refund those who had bought tickets but could not use them.
“The question is, when will this compensation be made? Be that as it may, it should also be considered whether the other company had or has any shares in FlyAfrica at the time that they were ''operating'' in Namibia, in order to determine their degree of liability for the failure on behalf of FlyAfrica.
“Other than that, one should get the advice of a contract lawyer as to whether FlyAfrica can be sued and whether it is viable to sue them, if they have standing in the Namibian courts and whether there are funds to compensate the people,” the LAC said.