On Friday 6 June, the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament announced that they were not satisfied with many of the conditions of the revised European legislation on air passenger rights agreed by the European Transport Ministers the previous day (see EUROPE 13654/1).
While the group is convinced of the need to update the rules governing the aviation sector and put an end to more than a decade of deadlock in the Council, “this must not be at the expense of citizens”, it warns in a press release.
“The new rules will reduce passengers’ rights, as the conditions for compensation have been tightened. They reduce passenger safety and give airlines more leniency, which is a totally mistaken priority”, said Mohammed Chahim (Dutch).
Before the Council, the EPP group in the European Parliament had warned that it was opposed to any weakening of the recognised rights of air passengers. “Weakening these rights would betray the trust that citizens place in the EU to defend their interests”, explained Andrey Novakov (EPP, Bulgarian). The EPP believes that reimbursement after a three-hour delay has been the norm for many years and should remain so.
Transport ministers have agreed on new compensation thresholds, both in terms of timetables and the amounts to which passengers will be entitled in the event of delays or cancellations.
For journeys of less than 3,500 kilometres and intra-EU journeys, compensation will be €300 for delays of four hours or more. For journeys of more than 3,500 kilometres, the charge will be €500 for delays of six hours or more.
In the event of cancellation, airlines will be obliged to offer passengers re-routing as soon as possible, including via flights operated by other carriers or other modes of transport. If this is not possible within three hours of the disruption, passengers can make their own arrangements and request a refund of up to 400% of the original ticket price. In the event of delays on the tarmac, passengers must be disembarked after three hours.
While welcoming the Council’s decision to require pre-filled compensation forms for cancelled flights, Johan Danielsson (S&D, Swedish) called for automatic compensation for travellers: “No form, no hassle”. “It is essential that we reverse the burden of proof so that airlines justify the refusal of compensation, and not the other way round”, he added.
Hungary voted in favour of the text. Furthermore, contrary to what was written in the article published on Thursday in Agence Europe (see EUROPE 13654/1), Hungary supported the text. The online version of the article has been corrected.
Links to the texts approved by the Council: https://aeur.eu/f/h7t ; https://aeur.eu/f/h7u ; https://aeur.eu/f/h7v (Original version in French by Anne Damiani and Camille-Cerise Gessant)