Thousands of us make use of Europe’s busy airline network as we travel for holidays, work and family.  There’s plenty of choice of routes and airlines but little joy when things go wrong and flights get delayed or cancelled.

There are already several Air Passenger Rights within European law that should guarantee the right help and compensation when this happens, but putting them into practice can be a real pain.  

An EU study in 2020 estimated that only 38% of passengers eligible for compensation actually managed to claim it. 

Euroconsumers wants things to change, and the launch of the Passenger Mobility Package which included revising the current Air Passenger Rights Regulation should have been the perfect place to finally firm up consumer rights and strengthen enforcement and access to justice.

New proposals are an attack on air passenger rights

However, instead of taking the opportunity to empower consumers, the proposals heading into trilogue discussions in the autumn look like an attack on passenger rights.  

For example, not being able to claim compensation until a delay is over three hours, and less accommodation and subsistence support from airlines during delays and cancellations.

This is bad news for travellers and for airlines who want to do the right thing. And it will do nothing to help build a competitive, well performing travel market that consumers can trust.  

Euroconsumers call on European leaders to grow, not slash consumer passenger rights. 

Here’s just some of the provisions we want to see in the new regulation:

• •  Current compensation amounts and eligibility kept intact: the existing rules open up compensation to passengers if they’ve been delayed for three hours or more. But this could be scrapped and replaced with either a four, five or even a six hour threshold, depending on where negotiations end up. The European Parliament is in favour of maintaining the existing three-hour threshold, but the Council would push this up to six hours, depending on whether the flight is within the EU or long-haul.
•  The new proposal will only allow passengers to make a claim after a five hour delay, or up to nine hours for a long-distance flight.  Withdrawing this mainstay of protection would be a major set back for passenger rights.
• •  Line up the regulations with EU case law on what circumstances trigger delay compensation: Airlines have a history of citing “extraordinary circumstances” like strikes by airline staff or even staff shortages to avoid paying out compensation.
• Action by Euroconsumers’ members and rulings by the European Court of Justice to clarify consumer entitlements have limited the airline’s ability to avoid paying out compensation for airline staff strikes.
• The Court of Justice agreed that strikes are often known about in advance and are not extraordinary, thus clarifying that passengers must be compensated if they result in cancellations.
• However, the current proposals are set to exempt some strikes from compensation obligations which would expose many passengers to disruption and losses. Let’s stick to the sensible case law and keep consumers protected.

• •  Keep assistance and care for delayed passengers to current standards: Passengers who are delayed or whose flights are cancelled need to be properly supported until the problem is put right. 
• Currently, people delayed by extraordinary circumstances are entitled to up to five nights’ accommodation at around EU125 per night. The Commission’s proposal wants to limit this assistance to just three nights’ accommodation at a cost of EU100 per night.  
• We want to see assistance and care maintained for passengers who can be left in difficult situations when flights get delayed.
• •  A fast choice for rerouting: Rerouting is when the airline offers passengers an alternative route to get to their original destination, it should be offered at the earliest opportunity so that people can make informed decisions about their next step.  
• How quickly a reroute is offered and what form it takes are up for debate in the new proposals.  The Commission proposes more flexibility to get passengers to their destination on another airline or via train or bus. This could be helpful but without careful wording could see people put on long indirect journeys. 
• We’d also like to see offers of alternative routes made much more quickly. The proposals allow airlines up to 12 hours to offer an alternative – compared to the 100 minute deadline that rail passengers are entitled to.  
• Let’s see reroutes offered at the very earliest opportunity so passengers can get on their way.

Empower consumers with rights and improve the travel market

Passengers deserve reliable, smooth air travel wherever they go, and stronger rights and enforcement routes will help raise up standards and consumer access to rights. 

Euroconsumers’ experience shows that airlines are all too quick to evade their obligations to passengers, whether its misleading green claims, stealth hand luggage charges or avoiding paying compensation for their own staff strike delays.

As the Air Passenger Rights Regulation lands on the debating table in autumn, it’s time to double down on passenger choice and passenger rights to improve the travel market and empower consumers to drive up quality and fairness.