The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) will implement a comprehensive bill of rights for airline passengers next month, which will deal with rampant passenger complaints of overbooking, non-rebookability, and non-refundability by airline companies.
 
The agency, together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will hold public hearings and consultations on July 6 to draft a joint DOTC-DTI administrative order.
 
According to Transportation and Communications Secretary Mar Roxas II, one of the issues that will be tackled in the hearings is the process of denying passengers from flights due to airlines’ practice of overbooking.
 
“A passenger can only be bumped off if he voluntarily agrees to,” said Roxas.
 
In the case of overbooking, there should be a system of bidding where airline companies will offer incentives to passengers who opt to give up their seats on the flight, the DOTC chief noted.
 
“But the decision of which passenger should be bumped off will no longer be in the hands of the airline companies,’ Roxas said.
 
During the hearings, DOTC and DTI will consider the interests of both airline passengers and airline companies, especially in light of the growing local and international tourism industry.

Core issues
 
Invited to participate in the hearings are representatives from various airline companies, consumer groups and other stakeholders. Members of the Senate and House of Representatives and DOT agents will also be invited.
 
According to Roxas, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulations will still be in effect until the Comprehensive Air Passenger Bill of Rights is released.
 
CAB recently issued Economic Regulation No. 7, which provides bumped off passengers and victims of delayed and cancelled flights better compensation.
 
The board also issued other resolutions suspending the conditions of non-refundability and non-rebookability, as well as the option of airlines to overbook flights as a revenue-management practice.
 
However, these were merely interim measures from the DOTC and CAB to address airline passenger complaints.
 
Several airline companies filed motions for reconsideration before the board, urging them to set aside the resolutions. Instead, the board deferred the effectivity of the earlier resolutions on overbooking, non-rebookability and non-refundability in an order which took effect on June 13.
 
A clearer policy on core issues will be jointly decided by DOTC and DTI after the hearings and approval of the Comprehensive Passenger Bill of Rights.
 
Draft copies of the bill will be presented to Congress, consumer groups, and airline companies for review before the document is finalized. — AL/VS, GMA News