The European Parliament has agreed a set of new rules for air travellers, which are likely to be adopted in the UK soon afterwards. In an announcement, the European Parliament said that changes will be made over compensation, child seating, and flight prices.
The new rules will potentially mean a big difference for anyone using some budget airlines such as Ryanair, easyJet, Wizz, and Jet2. They include insisting on transparent ticket prices that include hand luggage.
The deal seeks to protect passengers against travel disruption, such as denied boarding and delayed or cancelled flights. The rules had not been updated since 2004.
Upgrading Passenger Rights
The new rules now include the right to carry on board, without additional fee, one personal item, such as a small bag or backpack. On the insistence of MEPs, price transparency and the comparability of air tickets was increased by obliging airlines, intermediaries, and search portals to always display the air fare inclusive of carry-on luggage at the outset of the booking process. Negotiators agreed that airlines may offer cheaper tickets for passengers who choose voluntarily to travel without hand luggage.
Air passengers will no longer be charged additional fees for correcting name spelling errors or for getting a printed version of a boarding pass if they have already checked in. MEPs also secured passengers the right to obtain boarding passes digitally upon check-in, without any further request or obligation to have a user account or a specific application. In addition, passengers shall not be denied boarding on the grounds that they used their own printed version of a digitally issued boarding pass, the agreement says.
On this issue, UK TV travel expert Simon Calder said: "The parliamentary proposal is unworkable within the confines of a typical low-cost jet. Ryanair, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline, says it can accept only 90 large pieces of cabin baggage in its Boeing 737 planes, which seat up to 197. Conferring the right for everyone to bring a roll-along case would involve much of the luggage ending up in the aircraft hold, causing delays. So a fudge has been agreed in the package of proposals to reform passenger rights. Airlines will be required to always display the air fare inclusive of carry-on luggage at the outset of the booking process. This will make no difference to British Airways, Jet2, and many Continental carriers such as Air France and KLM, which already allow two items. But the move is likely to add £20-£40 to existing one-way fares on easyJet, Ryanair, and Wizz Air. However, the carriers can immediately offer a discount that reduces the price to passengers taking only minimal baggage."
Compensation and Duty of Care
Parliament’s negotiators resisted a push to weaken air passenger rights. Under the deal, air travellers maintain the right to be reimbursed or re-routed in case of cancellation, and to claim compensation if a flight is delayed by more than three hours, if it is cancelled less than 14 days before a flight, or if they are denied boarding.
Compensation for delayed or cancelled flights will depend on flight distance: €250 for journeys up to 1,500 km, €400 for journeys between 1,500 km and 3,500 km, and €600 for all other longer journeys. Air carriers will have the possibility to reduce compensation by 50% for their longest journeys if passengers are offered re-routing to their final destination following travel disruption, or if the delay at arrival does not last more than four hours.
However, airlines will be able to avoid paying compensation if the delay or cancellation was caused by events beyond their control. The new rules will have an open list of these extraordinary circumstances, including for instance natural disasters, war, weather conditions, unruly passengers, or airport, air navigation, or ground handling service provider strikes.
In all cases, air operators will have a duty to take care of stranded passengers by providing refreshments every two hours of waiting time, a meal after three hours, and, if needed during long delays, an overnight stay of a maximum of three nights, the agreement says.
Faster and Easier Reimbursement
Air carriers will need to electronically provide passengers facing travel disruptions (delay or cancellation) with clear instructions on how to submit a request for compensation within four days of the termination of their journey. MEPs ensured that passengers are not obliged to have a user account or to use a specific application to receive this information. Air passengers will have nine months to file a compensation request, while airlines will have 30 days to pay the compensation or invoke extraordinary circumstances, explain why compensation will not be provided, and refer passengers to complaint handling steps, the deal says.
Protecting Vulnerable Passengers
MEPs said passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility (PRM) will have the right to compensation, rerouting, and assistance by airlines if they miss a flight due to the airport’s failure to help them reach the gate on time. They also made sure that families with kids are not separated during seating, by obliging air carriers to ensure that any person accompanying a child below the age of 14 should be seated on an adjacent seat without paying extra. The same right will apply to passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility, and to pregnant women.
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, said: "The European Parliament has always been the strongest advocate for strong air passenger rights. This agreement will strengthen the rights of air passengers across Europe. It will bring greater transparency and predictability for both consumers and airlines, without creating unnecessary bureaucracy for our industry. Parliament fought hard to make travel fairer and procedures clearer, and this is what we have delivered."
