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Coverage

Flight disruption

Philippines — Air Passenger Bill of Rights (CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended)

NationalPHDerived or secondary source

Philippines

Rule id
air.ph-apbr
Version
2.0.0
In force from
January 30, 2024
Last read against its sources
August 5, 2026
Countries bound
Philippines

In plain language

What this regime says.

The Philippine Air Passenger Bill of Rights, as amended by the Civil Aeronautics Board in January 2024, requires care from two hours of terminal delay, lets you treat a four-hour delay attributable to the carrier as a cancellation, and pays denied-boarding compensation of the higher of your full fare or PHP 5,000 domestic / PHP 10,000 international.

Who is covered

Passengers of air carriers operating to, from and within the Philippines.

What you get

Care from two hours. At four hours of carrier-attributable delay, an election to treat the flight as cancelled, or compensation of at least the value of the delayed sector if you continue. Denied boarding: the higher of the full fare including taxes, surcharges and optional service items, or PHP 5,000 domestic / PHP 10,000 international. Downgrade: the fare difference plus a 50% penalty with a PHP 5,000 floor. Delayed baggage: PHP 2,000 per 24 hours.

Where claims go wrong

  • The tiers are two and four hours under the 2024 amendment, not three and six as in the 2012 order that most guides still quote.
  • The denied-boarding peso figures are a floor, not a rate. On a fare above them the full fare governs — including taxes, surcharges and paid extras.
  • Overbooking beyond 10% of seat capacity is bad faith under § 11.1(f). Ask for the numbers.
  • Settlement is meant to happen at the airport on the day, and a voucher must be convertible to cash within fifteen days.
  • Compensation figures of 100% or 150% circulating online come from pending bills, not from law.
The official claim route

Authority

Every citation,
with its pinpoint.

A claim that cites “EU law” gets filed. A claim that cites Article 7(1)(c) gets answered. These are the exact coordinates this entry rests on.
  1. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 11.1(c)(i) (denied boarding compensation)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 11.1(c)(i) (denied boarding compensation)
  2. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 11.1(f) (overbooking limit)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 11.1(f) (overbooking limit)
  3. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 12 (cancellation)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 12 (cancellation)
  4. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 13.1 (terminal delay of two hours or more)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 13.1 (terminal delay of two hours or more)
  5. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier)
  6. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 14 (downgrading)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05§ 14 (downgrading)
  7. CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, delayed baggage compensation (carried over from JAO No. 1 s. 2012 § 14.1)Civil Aeronautics Board Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended — Providing for a Bill of Rights for Passengers and Air Carriers Obligations (adopted 30 January 2024), the Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05delayed baggage compensation (carried over from JAO No. 1 s. 2012 § 14.1)
  8. DOTC-DTI Joint Administrative Order No. 1, series of 2012DOTC-DTI Joint Administrative Order No. 1, series of 2012 — Air Passenger Bill of RightsURL verified 2026-08-05

Sources

Where a figure is indexed, converted or published by a regulator rather than fixed in the instrument, the provenance is recorded separately. Anything marked as a modelled estimate is exactly that — a model, not a statutory number.

What it imposes

Clocks, defences and the ladder.

A rule module builds these while it evaluates, because a limitation period depends on which forum is open to you. What follows is the structure this regime produces — deliberately with no dates and no figures, because those belong to your facts rather than to the law.

The clocks it starts

  • Two years for a Montreal Convention claim (Art. 35)Neither the Bill of Rights nor the CAB complaint portal states a filing deadline for a CAB complaint. This two-year period is the Convention limit for a delay-damages claim on international carriage. File early: an unstated deadline is not the same as no deadline.Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 35(1) — Art. 35(1)Limitation period

What it entitles you to, beyond money

  • Refreshments, communications and first aid from two hoursSection 13.1 requires refreshments or meals, free phone calls, text messages and internet access, and first aid where necessary, once a terminal delay reaches two hours — and it applies whatever caused the delay. The internet limb was added in the 2024 amendment and is routinely not offered.§ 13.1 (terminal delay of two hours or more)
  • Settlement on the spot, and vouchers convertible to cashBoth the 2012 order and the amended regulation require on-the-spot settlement: payment at the counter on the day, through the airline's customer service representative at the airport. Where a voucher is issued instead, it must be convertible to cash within fifteen days. Do not leave the airport without asking for the settlement, and do not accept a voucher on the footing that it is all that is available.§ 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier)
  • The election to treat the flight as cancelled is yoursWhere the four-hour threshold is crossed and the cause is the carrier's, you may treat the flight as cancelled and take the cancellation remedies instead, including a refund. Carriers present the continuation as the only option. It is not.§ 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier)
  • Montreal Convention damages for delay (international carriage)On international carriage between States Parties, Art. 19 of the Montreal Convention makes the carrier liable for the damage the delay actually caused you — the unused hotel night, the missed onward booking, the extra meals and transport — unless it proves it took all measures that could reasonably be required. It is capped at 6,303 SDR per passenger (the figure ICAO set with effect from 28 December 2024) and it requires receipts, not a formula. This claim exists independently of any national scheme, and airlines never mention it. The right is extinguished two years after arrival under Art. 35.Art. 19, Art. 22(1)

What the other side will say

Each of these is a refusal this regime lets a counterparty attempt, paired with the answer to it. Reading them before you write is worth more than any amount of polish on the letter itself.

The airline applies the 2012 thresholds

high likelihood

The carrier says care becomes due at three hours and the cancellation election at six, which is what the 2012 Joint Administrative Order provided.

What answers it

Economic Regulation No. 9 As Amended, adopted 30 January 2024, moved those tiers to two and four hours. Cite the amended regulation by name and date. The CAB's own summary page carries the amended figures.

CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 13.1 (terminal delay of two hours or more) — § 13.1 (terminal delay of two hours or more)

Here is PHP 5,000, that is the rate

high likelihood

For denied boarding the carrier pays the peso figure and treats it as the tariff.

What answers it

Section 11.1(c)(i) pays the HIGHER of the full fare including taxes, surcharges and optional service items, or the peso figure. On any fare above the floor, the fare governs — and "optional service items" means seat selection, bags and meals count toward the base. It is a floor, not a rate.

CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 11.1(c)(i) (denied boarding compensation) — § 11.1(c)(i) (denied boarding compensation)

A voucher rather than cash

high likelihood

The carrier issues a travel voucher and treats the obligation as discharged.

What answers it

A voucher must be convertible to cash within fifteen days. Ask for the conversion in writing and cite the requirement. Separately, § 13.2 gives the carrier the choice of cash or voucher for the delay compensation specifically — but not the right to make a voucher permanent.

CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier) — § 13.2 (terminal delay of four hours or more attributable to the carrier)

Overbooking is standard practice

medium likelihood

The carrier presents the offload as an ordinary consequence of a commercial practice everyone uses.

What answers it

Section 11.1(f) caps overbooking at 10% of seat capacity and provides that a carrier exceeding it is acting in bad faith. That is a finding with consequences beyond your ticket. Ask the carrier how many passengers were offloaded and what the aircraft's seat capacity was, and put the answer — or the refusal — in your CAB complaint.

CAB Economic Regulation No. 9, As Amended, § 11.1(f) (overbooking limit) — § 11.1(f) (overbooking limit)

Where to take it next

  1. Airline customer service representative, at the airportThe regulation contemplates settlement on the spot. Find the customer service representative before you leave, ask for the settlement by name and section, and get whatever you are given in writing with a reference.Claim directtypically 1 days
  2. CAB Passenger Rights Action Desk at the airportThe Civil Aeronautics Board staffs desks at the major airports. Going there the same day, while you still have the boarding pass and the departure board photograph, is far more effective than complaining weeks later.Regulatortypically 7 days
  3. Formal complaint to the Civil Aeronautics BoardFile at complaints.cab.gov.ph, or by the 24-hour hotline on 165-66. The CAB regulates the economic conduct of carriers and can act on a breach of the Bill of Rights.Regulatortypically 45 daysofficial page
  4. Department of Trade and Industry — advertising and promotions onlyThe DTI half of the original Joint Administrative Order covers misleading fare advertising and sales promotions. It is the right destination for a deceptive-pricing complaint and the wrong one for a delay claim.Regulatortypically 45 days

Documents

What this regime can produce.

Every one of these is a document you send yourself, in your own name. Duesday never writes to anybody on your behalf and is never anyone’s agent.

The same claim type elsewhere

Belarus — Air Code of the Republic of Belarus and the Department of AviationBYNational — BelarusВоздушный кодекс Республики БеларусьConfidence: lowEU Regulation 261/2004 (air passenger rights)EUSupranational — 31 countriesRegulation (EC) No 261/2004Confidence: highGermany — contractual damages beyond the Article 7 sum (BGB)DENational — GermanyRegulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 12(1)Confidence: mediumItaly — ruined-holiday damages (danno da vacanza rovinata)ITNational — ItalyRegulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 12(1)Confidence: lowMoldova — air passenger rights under the EU–Moldova Common Aviation Area AgreementMDNational — MoldovaEU–Moldova Common Aviation Area Agreement, Annex IIIConfidence: mediumRussian Federation — Air Code Art. 120 (carrier liability for delay)RUNational — RussiaВоздушный кодекс Российской Федерации, ст. 120 (Ответственность перевозчика за просрочку доставки пассажира, багажа или груза)Confidence: highSpain — further damages beyond the Article 7 sumESNational — SpainRegulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 12(1)Confidence: lowTürkiye — SHY-YOLCU air passenger rights regulationTRNational — TürkiyeSHY-YOLCU, Kapsam (scope)Confidence: medium

Other rights in the same countries

Philippines — Data Privacy Act of 2012 and the National Privacy CommissionPHNational — PhilippinesRepublic Act No. 10173 — Data Privacy Act of 2012Confidence: mediumPhilippines — deposit and advance rent (Rent Control Act, RA 9653, s. 7)PHNational — PhilippinesRepublic Act No. 9653, s. 7Confidence: mediumPhilippines — Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (RA 11765) and BSP adjudicationPHNational — PhilippinesRepublic Act No. 11765 — Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection ActConfidence: mediumPhilippines — Internet Transactions Act 2023 and the Consumer ActPHNational — PhilippinesRepublic Act No. 11967 — Internet Transactions Act of 2023Confidence: medium

Does this one reach your facts?

The engine runs every regime that could apply at once and reconciles them, rather than making you guess which page to read.

Run your factsBack to the catalogue

Not a law firm. Not legal advice. You send it yourself. This page describes a law; it is not advice about your situation and no outcome is promised.