Consultation questions Design of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme 1. What should be the objectives of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? 2. What powers and functions should the ombudsperson have? 3. What governance arrangement should be adopted for the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? 4. If a board is established to govern the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme, what powers and functions should the board have? 5. Is it appropriate to appoint two individual ombudspersons within the scheme – one with responsibility for aviation consumer issues, and the other with responsibility for aircraft noise? 6. Which airlines and airports should be required to be members of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? Should there be any exemptions and, if so, on what grounds? 7. Should the government adopt a phased approach to the application of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme to different categories of airlines and airports? 8.
How should funding arrangements for the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme operate? 9. What features of existing industry ombuds schemes, and similar bodies, in Australia and overseas, should be considered in the design of the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? Complaint handling 10. What types of complaints should be eligible for consideration by the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme, and what types of complaints should not? 11. Should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme be able to accept complaints relating to breaches of privacy by members of the scheme? 12. How should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme handle complaints about airlines and airports in relation to services purchased through a travel agent or other third party? 13. What existing complaints schemes or processes have the potential to overlap with the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? 14. Who should be eligible to make complaints to the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? 15. If small business and not for profit (NFP) organisations are eligible to make complaints, in addition to consumers, what criteria should be applied to define eligible small businesses and NFPs? 16.
What complaint resolution process should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme adopt? 17. How much time should an airline or airport have to resolve a complaint, before the complaint is considered by the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme? What factors should be considered by the Ombudsperson when deciding if a complaint was resolved within a reasonable time? 18. What time limit should apply for making a complaint? 19. What should be the maximum monetary amount the ombudsperson is able to award? Guidance and reporting 20. What regular publications should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme produce? 21. What processes should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme adopt to provide procedural fairness to scheme members before it publishes certain data and information? Show cause arrangement 22. What specific powers should the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme have to require airlines to provide information about delays and cancellations? Scheme compliance 23. What enforcement arrangements are appropriate to achieve compliance with the Aviation Industry Ombuds Scheme?