Mexican consumer protection laws are becoming more stringent for air carriers.

In parallel with the amendment to the Mexican Civil Aviation Act (MCAA) by which additional obligations to compensate, care and indemnify passengers, were imposed to air carriers in case of a flight cancellation, delay and denied boarding (to know more about such an amendment please click here), the Mexican Federal Law of Consumer Protection (FLCP) was updated to be put in line with the MCAA’s amendments.

 Indeed, articles 65 TER and 65 Ter 1, were added to the FLCP, effective as of June 27, 2017. Such new articles are summarized as follows:

• Apart from the passenger rights set forth in the MCAA and the relevant contract of carriage, air carriers shall publish through electronic or physical means, at boarding gates and at passenger service modules the reasons of a flight delay. Air carriers shall make available to passengers all information necessary to the filing of claims, in each of the terminals where air carriers operate.

•  Provisions pertaining to air passenger rights provided for by the MCAA are mandatory for air carriers and their staff as well as for travel agencies in charge of ticket sales, reservations and check-in points.

 Air carriers shall inform passengers, when buying the ticket and at assistance modules, on the terms and conditions of the contract of carriage, as well as on passenger rights listed on the MCAA. Such a list of passenger rights shall be available to passengers at  assistance points, at counters, at reservation points; as well as on board of aircraft on each of the passengers’ seats, or if not, air carriers shall include sufficient written information on board the aircraft regarding passenger rights.

 Air carriers shall post all passenger rights on their websites on a regular basis.

 It will be very interesting to see how things will evolve as from the above amendments. As a matter of fact, air carriers’ compliance departments must monitor carefully the fulfillment of the new obligations set forth in the MCAA and the FLCP.

 In the upcoming weeks, more regulations will be enacted by the Mexican government to make the above amendments implementable and facilitate their enforcement.