LONDON – The Chilean government has issued a regulation that modifies the aeronautical code, which allows air tickets’ endorsement or transfer, as well as its full refund.

The rule states that, as well as the endorsement or transfer and the full refund procedures, can be carried out through a digital form, or personally at the ticket sales offices, airport counters, and authorized agencies that the carrier has.

The rule in question states that the passengers may freely endorse or transfer their ticket, for one-way and/or round trips, at no cost. The passenger can endorse or transfer the tickets up to one day prior to the flight.

The endorsement or transfer has some limitations.

For example, you can only transfer the rights of your ticket between people and only once for each ticket. During a year, the passenger may only use this a maximum of 2 times per carrier, at the rate of one transfer per semester.

However, passengers have the right to unilaterally terminate the “air transport contract”, nullifying the ticket. The passenger will receive a full refund without any penalty. With this as well there are some conditions.

The passenger is able to cancel their ticket 48 hours after they have purchased their ticket, for trips that are at least 7 calendar days before the date and time of the scheduled payment.

If the flight is 180 days or later than the purchase of the ticket, the withdrawal period is up to 7 days after the purchase of the ticket.

The ticket refund must be reimbursed within a period of 10 days, through the same method used for the purchase.

In case the ticket was purchased with cash, the carrier must agree on the passenger’s method to make the reimbursement.

The first airlines that have adopted the new regulations into their policies are Sky Airline and JetSmart.

The biggest Chilean airline, LATAM, has not yet updated its policies according to the new regulations.

If the airline does not comply with the policies, then they may be fined by the Chilean authority in charge of safeguarding customer protection.

The new regulation has not specified whether or not this is for international flights, national flights, or both, and it hasn’t specified as well if it will apply for international carriers.

This new law is a great step to avoid the excessive charges that airlines often impose on passengers.