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- The game of no return: air passengers have a chance to receive full compensation for overbooking
The game of no return: air passengers have a chance to receive full compensation for overbooking
Passengers can be compensated for the full cost of the flight ticket in cases of overbooking. The Prosecutor General's Office proposed to the Ministry of Transport to amend the Air Code and establish the financial responsibility of carriers for abuses during overbooking. The initiative was a response to complaints from passengers who were repeatedly denied a flight. In 2025, the transport prosecutor's office fined the airlines NordStar, North Wind, S7 and other carriers for overbooking in the amount of more than 900 thousand rubles. Izvestia investigated why the legislative regulation of this problem is stalling.
How the Prosecutor General's Office proposes to punish air carriers
In the case of overbooking — the sale by an airline of more tickets than there are seats — passengers should be compensated for the full cost of the flight. Mikhail Kuznetsov, Deputy Head of the Department for Supervision of the Enforcement of Laws on Transport of the Prosecutor General's Office, made such a proposal to the Ministry of Transport after considering numerous complaints from citizens about the refusal to fly in 2025. Izvestia has read the letter.
As noted in the document, last year, the West Siberian Transport Prosecutor's Office initiated more than 30 administrative cases against a number of carriers (S7, NordStar, North Wind, etc.) with fines of more than 900 thousand rubles. In particular, in August 2025, 10 passengers on S7 Airlines' Sochi – Novosibirsk flight were denied air transportation due to improper booking of aircraft cargo capacities.
Repeated offenses are systematically allowed, noted West Siberian Transport Prosecutor Ilya Sukhonosov. At the same time, the Air Code, Federal Aviation Regulations and the Code of Administrative Offenses do not yet prohibit overbooking and do not establish the responsibility of carriers for its consequences.
Airlines purposefully sell more tickets for flights than there are seats available on board in order to maximize revenue from each flight, said Oleg Panteleev, executive director of the Aviport agency. According to him, depending on the destination, 2-6% of passengers refuse to fly for various reasons, and some of the seats remain unfilled. Selling stock tickets allows you to use these seats for other passengers instead of leaving them empty. However, when all the passengers arrive, someone remains "overboard". They are sent on other flights, and the waiting times are sometimes stretched, he noted.
The Prosecutor General's Office believes that additional legal regulation is needed to curb the illegal activities of airlines, for which it proposes to amend Article 120.1 of the Air Code of the Russian Federation ("Carrier's liability for delayed delivery of passengers, baggage or cargo") to provide for the carrier's financial liability for non-compliance with transportation contracts (overbooking).
In case of refusal to provide a seat due to overbooking, the carrier will be obliged to pay the passenger a fine in the amount of the ticket price within 10 days, the letter says. Such a fair measure will allow for the prompt restoration of passengers' rights and will have a stimulating effect on air carriers, Ilya Sukhonosov believes.
The Prosecutor General's Office asked the Ministry of Transport to consider their initiative. Izvestia sent inquiries to these agencies, as well as to the airline.
Why does overbooking occur?
"The main reason for overbooking is the lack of airline capacity," Andrey Patrakov, founder of the RunAvia flight safety service, told Izvestia. — There was overbooking before, but now, with high demand for air transportation, the situation is growing.
One of the solutions is to legalize overbooking through regulation and the establishment of uniform rules for all airlines, the expert believes. The discussion about this has been going on for at least five years, but it has not yet been legally fixed.
In April 2025, the bill on overbooking was considered by the Public Council of the department, Izvestia wrote. The Ministry of Transport, together with air carriers, proposed through amendments to the Russian Air Code to make overbooking compensation from 25 to 100% and assign them depending on the hours of flight delay: one to two hours, two to six hours, 6-12 hours and 12-24 hours. At the same time, if by the end of the year the number of passengers transferred from one flight to another exceeds the limit set by the Ministry of Transport, then next year it was proposed to deprive the airline of the opportunity to use overbooking. So far, this bill has also not been approved.
According to Ilya Zotov, chairman of the Public Association of Passengers (PLO), the possibility of introducing overbooking into the legal field is still being discussed today, where not only compensation will be regulated, but also the timing of transfer to the flight, for example, within 24 hours of the originally planned one. There are opinions that the amount of compensation will vary from 10 to 100% of the ticket price, depending on how long the airline will inform the passenger about overbooking, he noted.
According to the social activist, the best solution is the practice of voluntary overbooking, when passengers independently decide to postpone a flight in exchange for compensation.
— It is advisable that all passengers at the gate are offered a choice: to fly now or on the next flight for compensation. If there are no interested parties, then you can arrange a kind of auction," Oleg Panteleev noted. — As a rule, there are always those who are willing to wait and receive the money.
At the same time, in his opinion, overbooking should not apply to disabled people, passengers with children, transit passengers and some other categories of citizens.
According to the expert, now, without centralized regulation, large airlines are trying to minimize the consequences of overbooking. They offer people who have been taken off the flight soft drinks, snacks, food vouchers and, if necessary, hotel accommodation. In addition, airlines can offer a flight voucher for the lowest price, bonus miles or compensation with money on the card for the inconvenience caused, the expert noted. There are no uniform rules today and this creates difficulties, noted by the prosecutor's office, the expert said.
— World practice shows that legalized overbooking is beneficial to everyone, — said Andrey Patrakov. — People will know what kind of compensation they will receive and how long they will have to wait for the next flight.
In the meantime, the measures applied by airlines are not enough, the expert said. Some carriers either do not have compensation or it is difficult to obtain it. At best, miles or bonus programs are offered, which is not always appropriate for citizens. Therefore, the legalization of overbooking with legally prescribed rules is long overdue, the expert believes.
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