The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) headed by Secretary Manuel Roxas II said that the positive response that the Air Passenger Bill of Rights is receiving, the proponents have been hoping it could passed public scrutiny.
The Air Passenger Bill of Rights seeks to balance the rights of passengers and interests of local airlines. It was planned out because of the increasing complaints from passengers on overbooking, compensation for passengers, flight cancellations, rebooking and refunds. It seeks to provide guidelines on how these problems are addressed to have better understanding between passengers and local airlines.
The Air Passenger Bill of Rights’ public hearing centered on “…the opening and closing hours of check-in counters depending on the type of aircraft; the required space for airlines to clearly state the restrictions, conditions and other matters about air ticket, including inclusion of terms and conditions twice in English and Filipino; the declaration of the number of seats offered on promo fare; the compensation for passengers who were denied boarding or were bumped off; the compensation for loss, damage and delay of baggage; and special provisions for persons with disabilities.”
Let’s hope the bill would be ironed out between sectors as the DOTC targeted an implementation by the coming month.
