Changes in Compensation for Involuntarily Bumped Passengers

As of May 2008, there will be major changes in compensation for passengers who are involuntarily bumped from an overbooked U.S. flight and who unable to reach their destination from one to two hours of the originally scheduled arrival time for domestic flights (or from one to four hours for international flights) will have maximum compensation increase from $200 to $400, and maximum compensation for delays of more than two hours (or more than for hours for an international flight) will go from $400 to $800. Also, bumping compensation will apply to flights on aircraft with 30 or more seats rather than the current restriction to aircraft with 60 or more seats.

In the U.S., the only passengers who must be compensated for flight delays are those who are delayed due to being involuntarily bumped. This is quite different from the European Community where passengers are also legally guaranteed compensation for many categories of delayed or cancelled flights. Passengers on EC flights are also compensated if they are downgraded in service to a lower flight class than that for which the ticked was purchased.

For details about the upcoming changes and about the differences in compensation in the U.S. and the European Community, visit AirSafe.com at http://www.airsafe.com/complain/bumping.htm.