DOTC to hold hearings on passenger rights

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is set to hold hearings with stakeholders next week for a comprehensive bill of rights of passengers amid rising number of air-transport related complaints, a cabinet official said.

“There will be hearings where we will call airlines, regulators like the CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board), CAAP (Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines), NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport)...so we can get data and insights on what should happen in case of overbooking, cancellation or delay in flights,” Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II said in a press conference yesterday,

The hearings, he said, would be conducted in line with a plan to come up with a more detailed bill of rights for air passengers.

The upcoming bill of rights, he said, is the third step being undertaken to address the increasing number of complaints.

He said the DOTC has issued Department Order 2012-01 dated Jan. 9, which mandates strict implementation of safety and security measures towards a safe, reliable and efficient transport system, as a first step to outline the bill of rights.

The second step, he said, was the release of Economic Regulation No. 7 of the CAB which provided new rules on boarding priority and compensation from carriers for passengers who are denied boarding, or whose flights are delayed or cancelled.

“This (Economic Regulation No. 7) is an interim stop-gap measure while we are working on a more detailed passenger bill of rights,” he said.

He said the passenger bill of rights would address complaints of air passengers.

He noted that the number of air passenger complaints received by the CAB has risen to 81 last year from 77 a year ago.

For the first quarter of this year alone, the CAB has already received 29 complaints.

The complaints, Roxas said, include being bumped-off from flights, cancelled or delayed flights, lost luggage, double-charging in credit card for the tickets and negligence of personnel.

“The cost to refund a missed flight is one thing, but the time lost for being bumped off is irreplaceable,” he said.

He said one of the issues to be discussed in the hearings for the comprehensive passenger bill of rights is to give the passenger the right to require the airline to book him or her in their next available flight or that of another carrier’s.