On Friday 7 February, the European Disability Forum (EDF) expressed a series of reservations and recommendations concerning the ‘passenger rights’ legislative package on the protection of passengers and the rights of air and multimodal transport passengers, and presented by the European Commission in late 2023 (see EUROPE 13303/5).
Believing that the objectives presented “fell very short of (its) expectations” and fearing further weakening by the Member States, the organisation is urging the European Parliament to raise its ambitions and suggests a series of amendments.
For the EDF, the current revision represents “an opportunity” that MEPs must grasp to protect the rights of the more than 100 million disabled people in the EU, who are confronted on a daily basis with a range of “nightmarish” issues, including denial of boarding, damaged assistive equipment and lack of compensation.
The amendments formulated would fully prohibit denial of boarding on the basis of disability, establish operators’ full liability in the event of damage to or loss of assistive equipment, and allow people with disabilities to travel with their assistant free of charge where this is required by the carrier for safety reasons.
Amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/feh; https://aeur.eu/f/fei (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)