MOSCOW, September 27 (RAPSI) – Bill introducing liability of airlines to passengers for overbooking reached the State Duma on Wednesday, according to the database of the lower house of parliament.

The bill reads that if the airline unilaterally cancels contract with a passenger and refuses to provide the transportation service because number of sold tickets exceeds capacity of the aircraft, it should compensate the passenger with a tenfold cost of the purchased ticket.

Authors of the bill note that currently Russian legislation does not provide special liability for airlines responsible for refusing to serve customers due to overbooking. Usually disputes with customers are solved by airlines on their own by providing a higher-class service, allocation of award points or postponing of a flight.

The bill, however, is expected to increase efficiency of regulation regarding sales of airline tickets and improvement of air route logistics.