The proposed revision of Regulation 261/2004 on Air Passenger Rights and Regulation 2027/97 on Air Carrier Liability in respect of the carriage of passengers and their baggage – on hold since 2015 – is back on the table and will soon be discussed at the European Council. The European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) wishes to seize the opportunity to express its views on the proposed revision, taking into account the results of the recently published study on the current level of protection of air passenger rights in the EU.
From the end-users’ side, the following elements are our main priorities for preserving and strengthening air passenger rights:
- Address grey zones and inconsistencies
- Better enforcement and consumer redress options
- Air passenger rights should be improved, not weakened by the review.
In more detail, EPF asks:
- A better definition of “extraordinary circumstances”
- Re-routing should include other carriers and transport modes
- Right to compensation after a delay of 3 hours or more
- The right to assistance and care should be improved, not reduced
- Improved passenger rights in case of missed connecting flights
- Passengers must be better informed
- Improved complaint handling and consumer redress options
- Better enforcement
- Ban of no-show clauses
- Passenger protection in case of airline insolvency
- Increased liability of carriers for luggage and more transparency on luggage rules
- Correction of mistakes and transfer of tickets should be possible.
The full position paper can be downloaded here.
Stay informed!