Brussels, 06/02/2014 (Agence Europe) - The main groups at the European Parliament have welcomed the progress made on enhancing air passengers' rights. This follows the adoption in the plenary on Wednesday 5 February of the report by Georges Bach (EPP, Luxembourg). Consumers and airports alike have welcomed the position taken by the European Parliament. The airlines appear to have been vindicated.
Everyone therefore appears to have gained something from the European Parliament revised rights. According to Mathieu Grosch, the EPP spokesman on transport, clarification on this question had been an urgent issue. The vote finally put an end to uncertainty for passengers and airlines, according to Saïd El Khadraoui (S&D, Belgium). The Greens, while satisfied overall, took a tougher line, particularly with the demand for partial compensation for delays of over an hour (as opposed to the three hour minimum), said Keith Taylor from the United Kingdom. Speaking on behalf of the Liberals, Graham Watson from the United Kingdom welcomed the fact that Gibraltar had been made subject to the revised rules, as his group had wanted, despite dissension on the subject with the Spanish delegation. He stated that this involved the right of all European citizens, whether they come from Gibraltar, Spain or elsewhere using Gibraltar airport.
The director of the European consumers' organisation, BEUC, Monique Goyens, pointed out that passengers had been very patient and the failure of airlines to assume their responsibility had become too frequent. She therefore appreciates the approach taken by the European Parliament to provide greater clarity and said that “we need the transport industry to respect passengers by respecting these laws”. She is very satisfied that passengers can now use return tickets without having used their outward bound ticket and said that the “no show” clauses were unjustified and created significant costs to passengers.
The European airports also see benefits in the provisions adopted by MEPs, particularly with regard to baggage allowed on board, after the Commission had failed to tackle the question of the single piece of luggage policy in its proposals. Oliver Jankovec, in the Director General of the European Airports Council, ACI-Europe, was delighted that Parliament had got rid of this practice that impacted negatively on passengers. The airports now have assurances that purchases made in their shopping areas can now be taken on board.
The airlines believe that they have won their case, according to one European source, and have no reason to be dissatisfied with the end of the no-show clauses. This policy may still continue on flights with stopovers. The exhaustive list of exceptional circumstances is not ultimately a bad thing as it brings certainly and will enable airlines to claim technical problems if they can prove them. Nonetheless, industry representatives are expected to turn to the Council to bring amendments with regard to providing up to five nights in a hotel for stranded passengers (in other modes of transport, compensation is three nights in a hotel) and a proposal on delays based on destinations (which could destabilise prevailing agreements between airlines). (MD/transl.fl)