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SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
'13 
JUL -8 P5 :24 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
SENATE BILL NO. 
660 
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JOSEPH VICTOR G. EJERCITO 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Clearly stipulated under the 1987 Philippine Constitution, 
Article XVI, Section 9, which provides: 
"the State shall protect consumers from trade malpractice 
and from substandard or hazardous product". 
The Philippine airline industry has been growing by leaps and 
bounds as air travel becomes the preferred mode of transportation 
because it is the most convenient way of reaching a destination. At 
present, the number of airline passengers continues to soar and 
multiply annually. 
But growth of the 
industry is 
not without a 
price. 
Simultaneous with the increase in passenger figures is resurgence 
In the number of problems faced by the airline passenger. 
Everyday, passengers are faced with difficulties, ranging from poor 
services, 
delays 
and 
cancellation 
of flights, 
baggage 
loss, 
disappearance of reservations, and many others. 
This bill seeks to address these problems by establishing a 
national policy of fair treatment of airline travelers that prohibits 
unfair and deceptive practices and unfair methods of competition by 
air carriers. 
, 
G\.::;- . 
JOSEPH VICTOR G. EJERCITO 


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'13 
JUL -8 P5 :24 
SIXTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
) 
First Regular Session 
) 
SENATE 
SENATE BILL NO. 
660 
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR JOSEPH VICTOR G. EJERCITO 
AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE RIGHTS OF AIRLINE 
PASSENGERS BY PROVIDING STANDARDS FOR AIRLINE 
CARRIER SERVICES 
I 
Be enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives lof the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Airline 
Passenger Bill of Rights Act 2013". 
SECTION 2. Definition of Terms. - For the purpose of this Act, the 
terms: 
(A) 
"Air Carrier" means any citizen of the Philippines who 
undertakes, whether directly or indirectly or by a lease or 
any other arrangement, to engage in air transportation. 
(B) 
"Air Transportation" means domestic, overseas, or foreign 
air transportation. 
(C) 
"Confirmed Reserved Space" means a space on a specific 
date and on a specific flight and class of service carrier 
which has been requested by a passenger and which the 
carrier or its agent has verified, by appropriate notation on 
the ticket or in any other manner provided by the carrier, 
as being reserved for the accommodation of the passenger. 
(D) 
"Foreign Air Carrier" means any person, not a citizen of the 
Philippines, who undertakes, whether directly or indirectly 
or by any other arrangement, to engage in foreign air 
transportation. 
(E) 
"Secretary" means the Secretary of Transportation and 
Communications. 
(F) 
"Ticket Agent" means any person, not a carrier or a foreign 
air carrier and not a bona fide employee of an air carrier or 


foreign air carrier, who, as principal agent, sells or offers 
for sale any air transportation, or negotiates for, or holds 
himself out by solicitation, advertisement, or otherwise as 
one who sells, provides, furnishes, contracts or arranges 
for, such transportation. 
(G) 
"Chronically Delayed Flight" means a regularly scheduled 
flight in air transportation that has failed to arrive within 30 
minutes of the scheduled arrival time of the flight at least 
40 percent of the time during the most recent-month 
period for which data is available. 
SECTION 3. Standards for Air Carrier Passenger ServIces. -
(A) 
Passenger Complaints. 
-
A covered air carrier shall 
establish 
and 
implement 
procedures 
for 
handling 
complaints from passengers of the air carrier. 
(6) 
Duty of the Secretary. - On the initiative of the Secretary 
of the complaint of an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or 
ticket agent, and if the Secretary considers it is in the 
public interest, the Secretary may investigate and decide 
whether an air carrier, foreign air carrier, or ticket agent 
has been engaged in an unfair or deceptive practice or an 
unfair method of competition in air transportation or the 
sale of air transportation. If the Secretary, after notice and 
opportunity for a hearing, finds that an air carrier foreign 
air carrier, or ticket agent is engaged in an unfair or 
deceptive practice or an unfair method of competition, the 
Secretary shall order the air carrier, foreign air carrier, or 
ticket agent to stop the practice or method. 
(C) 
Specific Practices. -
For purposes of paragraph (6), the 
terms 'unfair or deceptive practice' and 'unfair method of 
competition' include an air carrier's failure -
(1) 
(2) 
(3) 
(4) 
To inform a ticketed passenger, upon request, wnether 
the flight on which the passenger is 
ticke~ed is 
overloaded; 
I 
. To permit a passenger's holding a confirmed reserved 
space on a flight to use portions of that passenger's 
tic;ket for travel, rather than the entire ticket, regardless 
of the reason any other option of the ticket is not used; 
To deliver a passenger's checked baggage within 
twenty-four (24) hours after arrival of the flight on 
which the passenger traveled and 
on 
which the 
passenger checked the baggage, except for reasonable 
delays in delivery of such baggage; 
To provide a consumer full access to all fares for that 
carrier, regardless of the technology the consumer uses 


(5) 
(6) 
(7) 
(8) 
(9) 
(10) 
(11) 
to access the fares if such information is requested by 
that consumer; 
To disclose, without being requested, the on-time 
performance for a chronically delayed flight of the air 
carrier whenever a customer makes a reservation or 
purchases a ticket on such a flight; 
To publish lowest fare information, and information on 
schedules and itineraries, with respect to regularly 
scheduled flights of the air carrier in air transportation. 
Such information shall be updated in a timely manner 
and shall be made available to the publiC on the 
Internet webSite of the air carrier; 
To provide notice to each passenger holding a confirmed 
reserved space on a flight with reasonable prior hotice 
when a schedule flight will be delayed for any ~eason 
. other than reasons for national security; 
To inform the passenger accurately and truthfully of the 
rei3son for the delay, cancellation or diversion of a flight. 
In complying with this provision, the air carrier shall use 
overhead announcements, on aircraft announcements, 
and postings on airport television monitors; 
To refund the full purchase price of the unused ticket if 
the passenger requests a refund within forty-eight (48) 
hours after the ticket is purchased; 
To disclose to consumer information that would enable 
them to make informed decisions about the comparative 
value of frequent flyer programs among airlines, 
including -
(a) 
The number of seats redeemable on each flight; 
and 
(b) 
The 
percentage 
of 
successful 
and 
failed 
redemption on each airline and on each flight; 
To provide for the essential needs of passengers at all 
times during which the aircraft is on the ground in the 
event of a departure delay, including the needs of 
passengers for food, water, sanitary facilities, medical 
access, adequate ventilation, and comfortable cabin 
temperatures. 
SECTION 4. Report. The Secretary shall include information about 
violation of Section 3 by air carriers in Air Travel Consumer Report 
which 
shall 
be 
published 
monthly 
by 
the 
Department of 
Transportation and Communications. 
SECTION 5. Procedures for Departure Delays. -
(A) 
Procedures to Permit Pilots to Return to Airport 
Terminals. - The Secretary shall work in coordination 


with air carriers to ensure that a pilot operating an 
aircraft in a flight in air transportation that is affected by 
a long departure delay is permitted to return the aircraft 
to the airport terminal to allow the passengers to exit 
the aircraft without losing the position of the flight in 
the departure sequence. 
(B) 
Contingency Plans for Weather Emergencies. -
(1) 
Coordination of Plans - The Secretary shall review 
the emergency contingency plans of air carriers 
and ensure that the plans will effectively address 
weather emergencies in a coordinated manner. 
(2) 
Meeting -
In carrying out this subsection, the 
Secretary 
shall 
convene 
a 
meeting 
of 
representatives of air carriers, airports and the 
Civil AViation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) 
to develop to develop procedures to better 
respond to weather emergencies resulting in long 
departure delays. 
SECTION 6. Implementing Rules and Regulations. - Within ninety 
(90) days after the enactment of this Act, the Secretary in 
consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and 
the Civil Aeronautics Board shall make rules and regulations 
implementing the provisions of this Act. 
SECTION 6. Penalties. - Any violation of Section 3 of this Act shall 
result to a suspension of the certificate of public convenience lof the 
domestiC carrier, or the license to operate a foreign air carrier, or a 
fine of Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (P 200,000) or both. 
I 
In case of grave and repetitive violations, the penalty shall be 
revocation of the Certificate of Convenience of the domestic carrier 
or the license to operate of a Foreign Air Office and the Civil 
Aeronautics Board, shall have conducted a hearing into the manner. 
SECTION 7. Separability Clause. - If any provision or part hereof, is 
held invalid or unconstitutional, the remainder of the law or the 
provision thereof shall remain valid and subsisting. 
SECTION 8. Repealing Clause. -
Any law, presidential decree, 
issuance, executive order, letter of instruction, administrative order, 
rule or regulation contrary to or inconsistent with, the provisions of 
this Act is hereby repealed, modified, or amended accordingly. 


SECTION 9. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect fifteen 
(15) days after its publication in at least two (2) newspapers of 
general circulation. 
Approved,