Hefty penalty fees for air ticket cancellations to be abolished

Hefty penalty fees for air ticket cancellations to be abolished. January. 16, 2016 10:02. redfoot@donga.com.

Requirements for imposing fees for cancellation of airline tickets will be toughened to reduce financial burden on consumers. In the event that flight schedules change due to delays and cancellations of flights, the airliner should inform the air ticket buyer of the changes by phone or text message without fail.

The government held a national policy coordination meeting presided over by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn at the Government Complex in Seoul on Friday, and decided to implement measures to protect the rights of airline passengers, which include such new policies.

Judging that when consumers suffer damage only organizations such as the Korea Consumer Agency individually seek to help victims, while fundamental measures to protect the consumers have been lacking, the government decided to introduce guidelines for protection of airline passengers in the second half of this year.

Specifically, the Ministry of Land, Transportation and Infrastructure and the Fair Trade Commission are set to join forces to strengthen requirements for imposing air ticket cancellation fees that are currently different from airliner to airliner. As well, the government plans to highlight the conditions for cancellation fees and deadlines for a refund for air tickets on notices through varying font sizes and colors to enable consumers to easily figure things out.