DOTC eyes ban on overbooking of domestic flights during peak season

THE Department of Transportation and Communications said on Tuesday it has started working towards a ban  on the overbooking of domestic flights during peak travel seasons.

The move comes months after a December 24-26 fiasco at Manila’s main Ninoy Aquino International Airport, when thousands of Cebu Pacific passengers suffered flight delays and cancellations.

The DOTC, together with the Civil Aeronautics Board, said it has proposed the ban alongside an overbooking cap of 10 percent for non-peak domestic flights.

Overbooking, which is a common practice in commercial aviation, happens when a carrier sells more seats in a given flight than what is available. This is to cover instances when passengers fail to show up, thus, their seat can be given to someone else.

The DOTC and the CAB are targeting to implement these changes by the fourth quarter of this year, “ideally before the peak periods of the All Saints’ Day weekend and the Christmas season.”

Domestic carriers Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Air Asia Zest CEO Joy Cañeba said the carrier “currently does not overbook any” of its flights.

“Should we decide on doing so in the future it will not compromise our commitment to serve our guests,” she added.

The DOTC described the move as an improvement to certain provisions of the Air Passenger Bill of Rights, or APBR.

“While overbooking is an internationally accepted practice, there should be a limit so as to protect the interests of passengers. We see no reason to allow overbooking of domestic flights during peak seasons because there is a foreseeable surge in the demand for seats, so most flights are full anyway,” Transportation department spokesman Michael Arthur Sagcal said in the statement.

“The way airlines and the public view passenger rights has been vastly improved since 2012, when we issued the APBR along with the DTI. But we see the opportunity for further improvements. For example, we still see cases of passengers being denied boarding despite having valid tickets – something that should be dealt with more firmly,” he added.

The proposed improvements, which are currently under review and
consultation by the CAB, include:

•  Shortening the period before a delay becomes compensable from 3 hours to 2 hours
•  Banning overbooking of domestic flights during peak seasons
•  Limiting overbooking during off-peak seasons to 10%, in accordance
with global practice
•  Fixing a minimum compensation for any passenger who is denied
boarding due to overbooking
•  Tightening up rules on flight delays and cancellations

CAB Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said in the same statement that these proposed improvements would help compel airlines to reduce flight delays and to adhere faithfully to their approved schedules. In the end, the changes would be for the benefit of passengers.

Arcilla also pointed out that the lack of a minimum compensation in cases where boarding is denied has oftentimes led to a stalemate in negotiations between airlines and their passengers when complaints are filed with his agency. SFM