It has been revealed that some foreign airlines do not have separate compensation regulations in place even if passengers are denied boarding due to ticket oversales.

The Korea Consumer Agency announced today (October 21) that consumer complaints related to airline passenger transport services are surging as travel demand increases.

In 2025, damage relief applications filed in relation to airline passenger transport services reached 3,201 cases, a 26.4% increase compared to the previous year.

In response, the Korea Consumer Agency investigated the operation status of passenger transport terms and conditions for a total of 22 airlines, including 11 domestic carriers and 11 foreign carriers.

Two foreign airlines did not specify separate compensation liability other than refunds, or allowed the airline to choose the method of compensation, in the event that a specific passenger could not board due to ticket oversales.

Domestic airline transport user protection standards make compensation mandatory in accordance with consumer dispute resolution standards when boarding is denied due to overbooking.

These standards apply equally to foreign airlines.

Twenty-one airlines had no separate compensation regulations other than fare refunds in cases of cancellations attributable to the airline, or left the decision of whether to compensate to the airline's discretion.

This is because international air transport conventions such as the Montreal Convention do not specify the compensation liability of airlines upon cancellation.

However, the European Union and Canada require airlines to provide fixed-rate compensation to consumers based on flight distance or arrival delay time even when cancellations are attributable to the airline.

Two foreign airlines set the limit of the airline's liability for passenger death or injury lower than that of the Montreal Convention.

Based on the results of this investigation, the Korea Consumer Agency recommended that the relevant airlines improve terms and conditions that have the potential to be disadvantageous to consumers.

(Photo provided by Korea Consumer Agency, Yonhap News)