The European Parliament approved new air passenger rights on Tuesday during a plenary session of lawmakers in Brussels. The updated regulations, however, still have one more hurdle to leap over before they formally become law across the EU.
The upgraded regulations largely preserve existing air passenger rights, with some important changes that are generally favourable for passengers. The changes, perhaps unsurprisingly, have not been popular with the airline industry, with the new rules described as the “poster child of bad regulation” by top airline boss Willie Walsh, who is the director general of the International Air Transportation Association (IATA)
First introduced in 2004, the European Union’s so-called EC261 regulations allow airline passengers impacted by a delay of three hours or more to claim between €250 and €600, depending on the flight distance, when the delay is within the control of the airline.
For several years, however, European lawmakers have been working on potentially major changes to the ways the regulations work. Airlines had wanted the regulations changed in a way that would make it harder for passengers to claim compensation, and, at one point, that’s exactly where the discussions were going.
In the end, however, lawmakers threw those plans out of the window and decided to keep the existing regulations with only a few minor changes:
Under the current rules, compensation is payable at the three-hour delay mark, regardless of the flight distance, although the compensation amount differs between short-haul, medium-haul, and long-haul flights.
- 1,500 km or less: €250
- 1,501 km to 3,500 km: €400
- More than 3,500 km: €600
The updated regulations will introduce a new element in which compensation is linked to different delay lengths and flight distances:
- 1,500 km or less – Delay of two hours or more: €250
- 1,501 km to 3,500 km – Delay of three hours or more: €400
- More than 3,500 km – Delay between three and four hours: €300
- More than 3,500 km– Delay of four hours or more: €600
As you can see, the amount of money in compensation that passengers can claim hasn’t changed, but passengers who face a delay on a short-haul flight within Europe can claim compensation at just the two-hour delay mark rather than the current three-hour mark.
Conversely, passengers on the longest flights must wait until their flight has been delayed by four hours before they can claim the upper payment of €600 per person.
Airlines must now proactively email delayed passengers with details on how they can claim compensation, and state clearly whether they intend to challenge the claim on the grounds that the delay was due to an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ outside of the airline’s control.
Once a compensation claim has been submitted, airlines will no longer be able to drag out the process and must either pay up or explain their reasoning for rejecting the claim within 30 days. Passengers would then be able to challenge a compensation denial through their local court system.
One of the most hyped parts of the updated regulations is the addition of ‘free hand baggage,’ in which airlines will no longer be able to charge passengers for certain types of baggage they want to bring into the cabin.
The ‘free’ element only applies to a single ‘personal item’ like a small backpack, purse, or tote bag that can be placed underneath the seat in front. This rule effectively doesn’t change anything, as virtually every single airline in Europe, including the likes of Ryanair, already allows this.
Airlines will still be able to charge extra for hand baggage or trolley bags that are too big to fit underneath the seat in front and have to be placed into the overhead bin.
However, airlines must display the airfare inclusive of a piece of hand baggage as the default at the first opportunity in the booking flow.
In a statement, the European Parliament said on Tuesday that lawmakers had “managed to defend the central right of passengers to be reimbursed or re-routed in case of cancellation.”
Until now, what constituted an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ had been left up to the courts to decide, but the updated regulations now include an open list of reasons that exempt airlines from paying compensation.
The list copies well-trodden legal decisions, so delays caused by things like natural disasters, war, weather conditions, unruly passengers, or airport, air navigation, and ground handling service provider strikes are considered an ‘extraordinary circumstance.’
Other changes coming to the updated regulations:
- Airlines will no longer be able to cancel the return leg of a flight if the passenger doesn’t catch the outbound flight and makes their way to their destination by other means.
- Passengers can correct spelling errors in names without being charged an admin fee by the airline.
- Digital boarding passes can be downloaded without signing up as a user for an airline’s loyalty program or mobile app.
- Paper boarding passes cannot be refused.
- Airlines must allow parents or guardians of children aged 14 or under to sit together for free.
- Disabled passengers who miss a flight due to a problem with assistance services at the airport must be rerouted at no extra charge.
“We have good news for everyone who flies,” commented Virginijus Sinkevicius, Vice-chair of the European Commission’s Transport and Tourism Committee. “We worked hard to make sure passengers did not lose the rights they already had, while securing better protection for families, people with reduced mobility, and others who need it most.”
What happens next? Before the updated regulations become law, they must be approved by the European Council. This is expected to happen in early August. The law will then semi-take effect 20 days after this vote, because airlines and national governments will have another year to prepare for the law’s implementation.
Considering his – for passengers – disastrous tenure at every stop he’s made since becoming Management, pretty much anything Walsh is against I would favor. He’s been a poster boy for corporate greed and abuse for decades now.