Passenger Handling, Service and Consumer Protection
Passenger Handling
Core concepts
Passenger handling questions test procedure and judgement. Learn the boarding sequence: document and manifest check, seating, special-category briefings, headcount against the manifest, and reconciliation with ground staff before the doors close. Know exit-row eligibility: no infants, no children below the operator's minimum age, no passenger requiring assistance in an emergency, no prisoner in custody, and a face-to-face briefing with eye contact confirmed.
Understand the categories you must handle: passengers with reduced mobility, unaccompanied minors, medical cases with clearance, stretcher passengers, deportees and escorts, and service animals. Know how to deal with non-compliance over seat belts, smoking and electronic devices, and how unruly behaviour escalates - verbal de-escalation first, restraint only as a last resort, with the flight deck informed and the commander's authority respected. Know the rules on flight deck access and on disembarkation and handover.
Traps
Questions that make a headcount a clerical task: if the count and the manifest disagree, the aircraft does not move until it is resolved. Never disclose one passenger's medical information to another. Do not move a passenger into an exit row simply because the seat is empty.
Rule of thumb
Brief exit-row passengers in person, seat by seat, and confirm understanding - a PA announcement alone is not a briefing.
Service and Consumer Protection
Core concepts
This domain mixes service standards with the legal rights of passengers. Know the consumer protection regime: the contract of carriage, the rules on delay, cancellation and denied boarding (volunteers sought before anyone is bumped, care such as meals, communication and accommodation, and compensation where the disruption is within the carrier's control rather than caused by extraordinary circumstances). Know baggage rules - cabin and checked allowances, prohibited items, and liability under the Montreal Convention 1999, whose limits are reviewed at five-year intervals.
Know the claim windows: 7 days for damaged baggage, 21 days for delayed baggage, and 2 years to bring legal action. Know the complaint route: airline first, then escalation to the NCAA. On board, apply service standards: special meals ordered in advance, no alcohol served to an intoxicated passenger and no alcohol consumed that was not served by crew, catering hygiene, potable water, allergy awareness, duty-free rules, and dignified service to passengers with disabilities and service animals.
Traps
Compensation is not automatic in every disruption - check the cause. A refund is not the same as compensation. Baggage limits and claim deadlines are frequently swapped in distractors, so learn them as a set.
Rule of thumb
Remember '7 - 21 - 2': 7 days for damage, 21 days for delay, 2 years to litigate.