The European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) is due to meet on Monday 12 January to vote on its position at second reading on the revision of the regulation on air passenger rights.
After breaking off negotiations with the Council of the EU in December (see EUROPE 13764/10), MEPs are obliged to adopt this position because of the EU Council’s choice of procedure (see EUROPE 13640/16). MEPs therefore have four months to respond to the EU Council’s position, which expires in February.
At second reading, the European Parliament must then amend this position (see EUROPE 13654/1). The rapporteurs have therefore taken up the guidelines they adopted in October (see EUROPE 13729/1) and made a few adjustments in line with what has been achieved during the last few rounds of negotiations (see EUROPE 13757/10).
This position will be adopted by the whole European Parliament at the January plenary session, and will serve as a basis for negotiations with the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council.
According to the compromise amendments due to be adopted on Monday, which Agence Europe has been able to obtain, MEPs will maintain the threshold for reimbursement in the event of delays at three hours, as is currently the case.
“The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that when the delay in arrival of a flight is equal to, or in excess of, three hours, the passengers concerned are entitled to compensation, like passengers whose original flight has been cancelled and to whom an air carrier is not able to offer re-routing [....], i.e. on a flight which departs no more than one hour before the scheduled time of departure and reaches their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled time of arrival”, explained the rapporteurs.
They also want the air carrier of the delayed flight to send passengers the pre-filled common form within 48 hours of the disruption to their journey so that they can obtain a refund and compensation.
If a passenger is downgraded, MEPs want the carrier to reimburse the passenger within seven working days: - 30% of the ticket price for flights of up to 1,500 kilometres; - 50% of the price for intra-Union flights of more than 1,500 kilometres or between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres; - 75% of the price for other flights, including those between the European territory of the Member States and the French outermost regions.
Read the compromise amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/k7r (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)