Overbooking in Air Transportation: Problems and Solutions

Abstract

Overbooking is widely used by airlines worldwide as one of the mechanisms that reduces the loss-making during transportation in case some passengers cancel the contract of carriage after purchasing a ticket. Russian legislation does not contain provisions allowing airlines to use this mechanism. In modern conditions, legitimization of overbooking in Russia will ensure minimization of airlines’ losses and protect the rights of passengers through compensatory measures established by law. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the possibility of legitimizing overbooking in the Russian Federation and propose legal measures to protect passengers. Methodologically the author relies on dialectical, comparative legal, systemic methods, as well as methods of legal modeling, analysis and analysis of legal reality. The author examined certain legal norms of the Civil and Air Codes of the Russian Federation regarding the possibility of termination or modification of the passenger air transportation agreement unilaterally (on the initiative of the carrier). The paper provides for a legal justification for this possibility of termination or modification of the passenger air transportation agreement unilaterally (on the initiative of the carrier). The foreign legislation in the field of overbooking has been studied in order to use some of its provisions. Proposals have been developed to determine the «excess» passenger during overbooking and the application of compensation payments. The possibility of legitimizing the use of overbooking in air transportation of passengers in the Russian Federation and ensuring the legal protection of passengers through compensation payments is substantiated.