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Deputies of the State Duma from the New People faction put forward an initiative to tighten the responsibility of air carriers for the practice of overbooking. An appeal with relevant proposals has been sent to the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.
Increased fines and automatic compensation
The call for changes to the current legislation was led by State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladislav Davankov. Deputies propose doubling existing fines for overbooking and introducing mandatory automatic compensation for passengers who were denied transportation due to overbooking.
The appeal was addressed to the Minister of Transport of the Russian Federation Andrei Nikitin, as reported by the press service of the faction.
Inconsistency between current fines and consequences
Currently, cases of refusal of transportation due to overbooking are often qualified under Article 14.4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (CAO RF). According to this article, legal entities can be fined up to 30,000 rubles, and in case of repeated violation - up to 50,000 rubles.
Parliamentarians emphasize that even if transportation is denied to several passengers, the total amount of the fine turns out to be incommensurate with both the negative consequences for citizens and the economic benefits that the carrier receives from overbooking.
Deputies propose not only doubling fines, but also calculating liability for each passenger who was denied transportation.
Automatic payment of compensation
In addition to increasing fines, parliamentarians consider it necessary to legislate a rule obliging the carrier to pay automatic compensation to passengers. The amount of this compensation should be 50% of the amount of the imposed administrative fine.
The authors of the appeal clarify that this payment should be made by the carrier directly to the passenger. It is important that automatic compensation must be paid regardless of whether the ticket is returned, alternative transportation is provided, or airport services are provided.
Payment must be made without a request within the prescribed period. As an example, a period of 10 calendar days is proposed from the date of refusal of transportation or from the day the passenger provides the necessary details.
According to deputies, the implementation of these proposals will bring a number of positive changes. They expect airlines to become more economically responsible and create incentives to better regulate the ticket sales process. This, in turn, should lead to a reduction in the number of litigations and faster restoration of passengers rights.
For citizens, according to the initiators, this will mean receiving guaranteed compensation without the need to go to court and prove the fact of a violation. At the same time, passengers will retain the right to demand compensation for all losses in full.
