The Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) has ordered that starting June 15, domestic airlines will be suspended or required to pay fees for bumping passengers off overbooked flights, Rappler.com reports. CAB is also prohibiting airlines from placing a condition against refunding or rebooking flights on the sale of plane tickets---even tickets sold at promotional rates.

According to CAB resolution no. 28, airlines will be fined P5,000 for each passenger who gets bumped off an overbooked flight. Meanwhile, the affected passengers will get P5,000 in compensation for domestic flights and P10,000 for international fights. They will also get the full value of the "first remaining flight coupon."

On the other hand, CAB resolution no. 29 suspends local airlines' ability to disallow passengers using low-cost fares for domestic flights from getting a refund or rebooking their flight.

The orders, which were first given on May 4, will take effect in mid-June after they are officially published in newspapers on June 1.

"The board takes cognizance of the prevailing public outcry against delayed and/or cancelled flights, as well as passengers denied boarding, presumably due to overbooking in domestic scheduled flights," the CAB is quoted as saying of their decision in a statement.


(Photo by Pablo Barrios via sxc.hu)