The United Airlines Flight 3411 had been overbooked, and for it to take off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, some passengers had to give up their seats for crew members to come on board.
Generally, overbooking is an international aviation practice which allows airlines to sell more tickets than available seats.
The rules require all airlines to display their overbooking policy conspicuously to consumers.
A few weeks ago, a video of an Asian man being forcibly dragged out of an overbooked US airline went viral on the social media.
The United Airlines Flight 3411 had been overbooked, and for it to take off from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, some passengers had to give up their seats for crew members to come on board.
None of the passengers offered to give up their seats voluntarily prompting the airline’s security officers to pounce on one David Dao.
Several passengers aboard the Louisville, Kentucky-bound plane reportedly used their phones to record and post the April 11 incident on the social media.
The ensuing public outrage and accusations of racism created a publicity nightmare for the US airline. For damage control, reports a section of the US media, the airline suspended its security officer, offered to pay Dr Dao undisclosed amount of money and announced a raft of policy changes to mollify its customers.
Among the policy changes was the introduction of a cash incentive of up to Sh1 million ($10,000) to overbooked customers who offer to give up seats.
Generally, overbooking is an international aviation practice which allows airlines to sell more tickets than available seats.
The airlines usually do this in anticipation that some of the booked passengers may not show up in time for the flight.
When everybody turns up, however, the airlines find themselves in a situation referred to in aviation lingo as “involuntary de-boarding”.
Passengers are asked to voluntarily give up their seats to enable the crew members to come on board.
While a de-boarding situation can rarely happen in Kenya where air travel is still a preserve of just a few people, the industry regulator appears determined to take a precaution.
Under the draft Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection) Regulations, 2017 published for public review last week, travellers denied boarding are entitled to a compensation equivalent of 20 per cent and 30 per cent on domestic and international travel ticket price respectively.
The rules require all airlines to display their overbooking policy conspicuously to consumers.
The international carriers must have their policies submitted to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) for approval as the regulator moves to ensure that the number to be denied boarding involuntarily is kept at the minimum.
“The airlines must announce its requests for volunteers to relinquish their space in exchange for a Compensation offer,” states the proposed laws.
“If the consumer decides to wait until the next flight and the waiting lasts more than an hour and less than six hours, then the airline must provide care,” the proposed regulations state, adding alternative flight must be made available in six hours.
The airlines face extra cost if travellers denied boarding are transferred to seats or plane sections which attract higher ticket prices than what they had initially paid for the journey.
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