The European Regulation on the protection of air passenger rights is due to be revised in the coming months.
The existing provisions have been in force for more than 20 years. Over the years, many issues that have arisen have been resolved by the Court of Justice of the European Union. For this reason, the director of IFURTA (Institute for University Education and Research in Air Transport) submitted a proposal for the revision of these regulations to the European Commission on 31 May 2024.
A few weeks later, on 22 July, the Commission published guidelines incorporating many of these new proposals. At the same time, the Commission examined the Court of Justice’s rulings to ensure the consistent application of the rules.
Key changes to compensation
So what changes can air passengers expect in the coming months?
The key changes, according to the guidelines, will be the framework for when a flight is considered cancelled or delayed for passengers to claim compensation. Cancelled flights will be defined as:
- Flights that arrive more than an hour early.
- Flights that return to the original departure airport.
- Diverted flights are where an aircraft is diverted to a different airport due to weather or mechanical problems. However, if a flight is diverted to another airport in the same city or region as the departure airport, it will be classified as delayed rather than cancelled.
In addition, the Commission clarifies that a delay of more than three hours entitles passengers to compensation comparable to that which they would receive for a flight cancellation. - Airlines to provide passengers with more accurate information
The Commission also promotes the obligation of airlines to provide more accurate information to their passengers. In the event of delays of more than 3 hours or cancellations, airlines must clearly indicate the name and address of the responsible company where passengers can submit their compensation claims. In addition, airlines will be required to provide a piece of written detailed information describing passengers’ rights.
Finally, if an airline gives the passenger the choice between a refund of their ticket or rerouting, it must provide all the necessary information for both options. However, in the event of a flight cancellation, if the passenger has to buy a new ticket at a higher price, the airline is obliged to cover the difference.
The Eurobarometer survey
The Commission’s guidelines are combined with the findings of a Eurobarometer survey, which shows that most Europeans still feel that they do not have sufficient information about passenger rights, even if awareness has increased compared to five years ago.
The results show that respondents were most likely to feel well informed about passenger rights when travelling by rail (33%), followed by air (30%), coach (27%) and then ship/ferry (16%). The survey also shows that 84% of respondents who requested assistance for people with disabilities or reduced mobility were satisfied with the response.
35% of travellers have seen information on passenger rights, an increase of 13 percentage points since 2019. This is usually at train stations (9%, +5). 75% of air passengers received information about their rights before travelling, compared to 61% for rail, 51% for coach and 54% for ship/ferry. Awareness remains extremely important.
Satisfaction with the way major disruptions were handled is highest for flights (66%, +12 percentage points), followed by ships/ferries (53%, -3 percentage points), rail (52%, +8 percentage points) and coaches (50%, +8 percentage points).
The use of single tickets for multimodal journeys remains limited at 11% (unchanged), with the most common combinations being rail/coach (39%, +9 percentage points) and air/rail (25%, +1 percentage points). 32% (+7 pp) experienced problems, 13% (+4 pp) almost missed a connection and 11% (+3 pp) did not meet the reality.
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