Forcibly taking a passenger down from overbooked flight unlikely in PHL —CAB

Forcibly taking a passenger out of an overbooked flight is unlikely to happen in the Philippines because of existing regulations, the Civil Aeronautics Board said on Tuesday.

CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla made the remark on Tuesday after a passenger was "involuntary deplaned" from an overbooked United Airlines flight in Chicago.

"We have dealt with that problem in our regulation. Under existing regulations in the Philippines, it's not supposed to happen, at least in theory," Arcilla said at a news conference.

"There would not be any involuntary deplaning of passengers in the Philippines because the airlines are required to sweeten the pie so that there would be volunteers," he added.

"Even before the passenger overbooked goes into the plane — the passenger will not be able to go there because there will be some kind of negotiations between the airline and the overbooked passenger," Arcilla said.

Arcilla said that overbooking is a "global practice" permitted under law and that denying passengers their seats was normal.

He, nonetheless, said airlines usually "sweeten the deal" by giving passengers appropriate compensation to avoid involuntary deplaning.

Arcilla said the CAB continues to review the policies pertaining to the practice.

"Under our current regulations, we will deal with overbooking. We are reviewing the policy," Arcilla said.

Doing away with overbooking

CAB Legal Division Chief Atty. Wyrlou Samodio said airlines were "doing away with overbooking" and were now bumping overbooked passengers to a standby list that would place the passenger on a later flight.

"'Pag sinabi nating overbooking, kumbaga dapat ka nang sumakay, kumpleto ang dokumento mo, hindi ka pinasakay," CAB Legal Division Chief Atty. Wyrlou Samodio said. "Ang standby system na ginagamit ngayon, sa una pa lang, alam mo nang pwedeng hindi ka makasakay."

Samodio said that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommends the use of the standby system over overbooking as it is more "passenger-friendly."

He added that under the APBR, passengers also have the right to compensation and amenities in the case of flight cancellation.

"We would like to reiterate, kapag na-delay ang flight mo, at least three hours, with or without airlines fault, the passenger should be given entitlements kasi yun na ho ang ginagawa ng iba," Samodio said. —NB, GMA News