South Korea to introduce new guidelines for air passenger rights on 20-Jul-2016

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced (12-Jul-2016) that a new guideline granting greater rights to air passengers will go into effect on 20-Jul-2016. Highlights of the new guidelines include:

• Airlines and travel agencies must notify passengers through phone or text messages if their departure is delayed by more than 30 minutes or cancelled;
• No aircraft carrying passengers may sit on the tarmac for more than three hours for domestic services or for four hours for international services;
• For oversold tickets, airlines must provide domestic passengers a 20% rebate even if they provide an alternative service, and if they fail they have to pay compensation as well as refunding the ticket price in full;
• For international services the rebate is USD100 even if airlines provide an alternative flight;
• The guidelines also apply to foreign airlines and travel agencies. Failure to comply can result in a fine of up to KRW5 million (USD4355). [more - original PR - Korean]