Bumped from a flight in Peru? What the airline owes you, and what not to sign

What overbooking is

Decisión 619 defines it: on a scheduled flight, more passengers with confirmed reservations show up on time than there are seats (art. 3). Airlines sell more tickets than seats because they expect no-shows. When everyone shows up, someone stays behind.

An involuntary denial is usually logged in the airline’s system with a code, for example “DB” (denied boarding). That’s airline practice, not a requirement of the rule. Ask to see it or to have it in writing.

Volunteers first (art. 6)

The airline «deberá, en primer lugar, pedir que se presenten pasajeros voluntarios que renuncien a sus reservas a cambio de determinados beneficios que se acuerden»: it must first ask for volunteers who give up their seats for agreed benefits. Volunteers get what they agree to, plus the assistance in article 8(a) and (e), «según corresponda» (as applicable).

Only if there aren’t enough volunteers can it deny boarding against passengers’ will. Then it «deberá compensarles, reembolsarles y asistirles en los términos que se indican en el artículo 8» (must compensate, refund and assist them on the terms of article 8).

What you’re owed if you’re bumped against your will

Article 6 refers to «los términos que se indican en el artículo 8», and article 8(a) is written for delayed flights. We apply its tiers to the time you wait for your new flight: that is our reading of article 6.

Assistance and compensation are two separate things, and they add up. The voucher handed over at the counter is, in principle, the compensation. It doesn’t replace meals, transfer or lodging.

How the 25% is calculated

The leg value is (art. 8(e)): net fare × (distance of the missed leg ÷ total trip distance). “Net fare” (valor neto) is what the airline charges for the transport, «libre de tasas, impuestos y cargos» (excluding taxes, fees and charges, art. 3). The 25% applies to that leg value.

Example. A passenger holds a round trip New York – Guayaquil via Lima, net fare USD 566. They’re denied boarding on Lima – Guayaquil.

The airline offered USD 25 by transfer or USD 35 in services. Both beat the legal minimum. What this passenger can still demand is cash without worse conditions, assistance for the wait, and information on their rights.

On a short nonstop flight it’s the reverse: the missed leg is the whole trip, and 25% can be well above a voucher. The compensation calculator works it out from the airport codes on your itinerary.

You signed the voucher. What the rule says

Article 8(e) says the 25% doesn’t apply to overbooking if there was an «acuerdo directo con el usuario por el cual éste acepte no viajar voluntariamente en el vuelo previsto» (a direct agreement in which the passenger voluntarily accepts not to fly on the scheduled flight). Some airlines treat a voucher signed at the counter as that agreement.

What you can argue:

• The order in article 6. The rule asks for volunteers before anyone is bumped. If you’d already been bumped, your denial was involuntary.
• The denial record. If it’s logged as involuntary (for example with the “DB” code), that contradicts the idea that you agreed not to fly.
• The information duty (art. 4(h)). If no one told you your rights before you signed, our position is that you couldn’t agree to anything knowingly.
• Article 6 itself. Even volunteers are pointed to the assistance in article 8(a) and (e), «según corresponda». If a volunteer can receive what paragraph e) gives, a later signature leaving you with nothing is hard to defend.
• Article 24. Airlines «no podrán otorgar o imponer condiciones inferiores o contrarios» (may not grant or impose lesser or contrary conditions) to the Decisión.

What Indecopi has already decided. In Resolution 3869-2014/SPC-INDECOPI (12 November 2014), Indecopi’s Consumer Protection Chamber reviewed a proceeding it had opened against Lan Perú for refusing check-in and boarding at Jorge Chávez airport in 2012 and 2013. Three points matter here:

• It held that it is «irrelevante para determinar la responsabilidad de la aerolínea» (irrelevant to the airline’s liability) that the refusal came from overbooking: if it harmed the passenger, it can be sanctioned (ground 57).
• Among the denied-boarding complaints, in twelve the passengers had signed a settlement with the airline «a través de la cual recibieron una compensación por no haber podido abordar su vuelo, renunciando a toda acción contra la denunciada» (receiving compensation for not boarding and waiving all claims). For the Chamber, in those cases there was no «interés vulnerado» (harmed interest) as of that date (ground 92). It sanctioned only the six cases in which acceptance of the rebooking or compensation wasn’t shown (ground 94). The fine on that count ended at 11.1 UIT.
• The ruling does not analyse article 24 of Decisión 619, the non-waivable nature of consumer rights, or whether passengers were informed before signing.

In practice: a signed voucher with a waiver is the airline’s strongest argument, and Indecopi has already accepted it in a sanction proceeding. If you weren’t told your rights before signing, say so in your complaint: that is what the ruling didn’t examine. The airline could also argue that the opening of article 8 only requires compensation if alternative transport can’t be found («se procurará el transporte alternativo y, de no ser posible, se compensará»); paragraph e) names overbooking expressly. Our reading: assistance and information are obligations separate from compensation, and the 2014 ruling did not examine them.

“Meals only come with the hotel”

It’s a common counter answer. The rule doesn’t say that. Article 8(a) gives meals from 4 hours and doesn’t tie them to lodging. Above 6 hours it adds lodging (only «en los casos en que sea necesario pernoctar», when an overnight stay is needed), transfer costs or a refund, «a elección del pasajero». Our position is that making meals conditional on the hotel is a lesser condition than the rule, which article 24 bans.

If they refuse, buy your food, keep the receipt and claim it back.

If your trip started outside the region

Decisión 619 governs the Andean Community: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Under its article 2 it also covers you if:

• you started your trip in another country on an Andean airline, with a destination or stop in one of those countries; or
• the airline or tour operator transferred you at an Andean airport from the flight you were booked on, «independientemente de los motivos» (whatever the reason). We read a denied boarding with rebooking as falling here, though the rule doesn’t use those words.

If you were connecting on a single ticket and couldn’t continue because of the airline, the compensation also applies «en lo pertinente» (as relevant, art. 8(f)). The country where your trip began may have its own rules; this page doesn’t cover them.

At the counter

The passenger rights card puts the articles that protect you on one screen, in Spanish, to show the airline staff.

Claim template

Complaints in Peru are filed in Spanish. Copy this into the airline’s Libro de Reclamaciones, replace what’s in brackets and delete the points that don’t apply.

Descripción

El [fecha] se me denegó el embarque contra mi voluntad por sobreventa en el vuelo [número] ([origen]-[destino]). Fui reubicado en el vuelo [número], [N] horas después.

1. El artículo 6 de la Decisión 619 de la Comunidad Andina obliga a pedir primero voluntarios. Mi denegación fue involuntaria.
2. No se me informó, por escrito ni de ningún otro modo, de mis derechos de compensación y asistencia (artículo 4, literal h).
3. Se me ofreció [monto y opciones] y se me pidió firmar un documento de renuncia. La compensación del artículo 8, literal e), es pagadera en efectivo o en la forma que acepte el pasajero. El artículo 24 prohíbe imponer condiciones inferiores a la Decisión.
4. No se me dio la asistencia del artículo 8, literal a), para una espera de [N] horas: [alimentos / traslado / hospedaje].

Pedido

1. Pago en efectivo o por transferencia de la compensación del artículo 8, literal e), sin condición de renuncia, con el cálculo del valor del tramo.
2. Reembolso de [alimentos / traslado] por [monto], según el artículo 8, literal a). Adjunto comprobantes.
3. Constancia escrita de que la denegación se debió a sobreventa.
4. Copia del documento que firmé.
5. Información de si se pidieron voluntarios antes de denegarme el embarque.

The airline has 15 business days to answer a complaints-book claim; details in how long they have to answer. If you don’t know who to complain to while you’re still at the airport, see where to complain at a Peruvian airport.