Passenger bill of rights out soon

MANILA, Philippines - Travelers should expect better protection from being bumped off due to overbooking or losing their baggage during the Christmas season after Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya vowed to release the much awaited Air Passenger Bill of Rights before the holiday rush.

Abaya told reporters that the bill of rights that was supposed to be issued as early as August by then Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas prior to his transfer to the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

He said the draft is now being finalized and would be published before the Christmas holidays.

 “It should be out soon, I think within the month or next month. We have no reason not to publish it, possible before travel season comes in we will have it out,” Abaya stressed.

The new guidelines would help address mounting complaints on airline industry practices such as bumping off of passengers due to overbooking, ticket refunds, and even lost or damaged baggage.

The DOTC together with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) held a series of consultations with foreign and domestic airlines as well as consumer groups since July to discuss the DOTC-DTI-CAB Administrative Order known as the Air Passenger Bill of Rights.

Aside from overbooking, the proposed guidelines would cover other issued such as the opening and closing hours of check-in counters depending on the type of aircraft, compensation for denial of boarding, compensation for loss as well as damage and delay of baggage, and immediate payment of compensation.

It would be recalled that the CAB has already imposed a ban on overbooking of flights by local airlines under  Resolutions Nos. 28 and 29 issued last May 11 effecting the ban on overbooking and laid out the penalties on “denied boarding” or bumping off passengers,

The implementation of the ban was however deferred through Resolution 44 adopted last June 13 amid a flurry of threats from the local aviation industry that the policy issuances of CAB and the DOTC to address mounting complaints against local carriers’ cancelled and delayed flights, as well as cases of passengers that availed of promo fare tickets having their tickets cancelled, could put a stop to the aggressive promo fare offerings of local carriers.

However, CAB clarified that that the deferment of the resolutions was meant to prevent “confusion” for the public especially while it draws out the Passenger Bill of Rights aimed at protecting air travelers.

The air fleet population of commercial airlines has doubled to 119 compared with only 62 in 2008 while the number of passengers reached 30 million last year from 18 million in 2006. The CAB received 77 complaints in 2010, 81 in 2011, and 29 in the first quarter of 2012 alone.