See how the right to repentance works when purchasing airline tickets. Anac is favorable to operators.
Created to protect consumers in purchases that are not made in physical stores, right of repentance establishes that the customer has seven days to regret a purchase, and must be reimbursed in full by the company if they give up on the product.
But when it comes to airline tickets, there is no consensus on the applicability of the law. Consumer protection bodies argue that companies must adapt to the legislation, while operators claim that the law needs to be reformulated. Shall we better understand this impasse?
Right to repentance is guaranteed to consumers
Navigating through Internet, you identify a promotion, quickly analyze the product and decide to make the purchase so as not to miss the offer. Then, when researching details about the object, you discover that the specifications do not meet your expectations. It's time to resort to the right to repentance.
Sanctioned on September 11, 1990, the Consumer Protection Code guarantees protections for consumers, who are considered the vulnerable party in the act of consumption. One of these protections is the right to repentance. See what the law nº 8.078 establishes in article 49:
Art. 49. The consumer can withdraw from the contract, within 7 days of his signature or the act of receiving the product or service, whenever the contracting for the supply of products and services occurs outside the commercial establishment, especially by telephone or at home.
Single paragraph. If the consumer exercises the right of repentance provided for in this article, the amounts eventually paid, in any capacity, during the reflection period, will be returned, immediately, monetarily updated.
It is clear, therefore, that purchases made on the Internet fall within what the law understands as “outside the commercial establishment”. In general, the consumer does not have difficulty exercising this right when dealing with large retail chains that operate on the internet, but with airline ticket companies, the situation changes.
The right to repentance and airline tickets
In 2011, the Brazilian Consumer Protection Institute (Idec) found, in research carried out with companies that sell airline tickets on the Internet, which some Brazilian websites maintain unfair contract clauses.
The institute analyzed Transport Contracts and discovered that some of them do not inform that the consumer has seven days to regret distance purchases, as established by the Consumer Protection Code. And the problem goes further, because it is not just an omission: companies understand that this law would not apply purchasing airline tickets online.
Idec's interpretation is different. “Electronic commerce is a method of purchasing a product or service outside the commercial establishment, through remote contact between supplier and consumer. And the work of online travel agencies takes place precisely in this virtual environment. Thus, there is no doubt that the right of repentance is valid for this category”, states Flavio Siqueira, Idec lawyer responsible for the survey, in the research disclosure document.
Among the companies' arguments is the allegation that purchases made over the internetdo not lose quality for the purchasing process in physical stores.
In contact with the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the portal Defensive Line verified that the Agency's position is favorable to operators. It is recommended that consumers carefully read the contract provided by the company when purchasing the ticket.
Diogo Baptista, a lawyer specialized in the Internet who prepared the article for Linha Defensiva, concludes that the understanding regarding the applicability of the right of regret for airline tickets purchased over the Internet is still It's not peaceful.
He concludes that the courts tend to favor the consumer, while ANAC preserves the interests of airlines, as it understands that sales made via e-commerce are in no way different from those made at the establishment itself. Just in case, while the parties do not reach a consensus and the law is not changed, the tip is to pay attention to the Contract of Transportation, to avoid hassles.
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