Brussels, 21/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - "The liberalisation of air transport within the EU has given results that allow citizens to travel to more destinations with a larger price range. Unfortunately, user discontent towards this service is growing", said Transport Commissioner Ms Loyola de Palacio, who presented her communication on new passenger rights to the press (see EUROPE of 19 and 20 June, p.12). Initially, the Commission organised advertising of rights already guaranteed by European legislation. On Wednesday, it is proposing an arsenal of legislative acts and voluntary airline agreements to improve the quality of service and consumer protection. The main innovation is that companies will have to reimburse air tickets in the event of overbooking or excessive delays. This communication will be presented to the Transport Council on Monday, in Luxembourg. French Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot has already announced that this issue is one of the 5 priorities of the French EU Council Presidency in the field of transport, for the forthcoming half year.
The Commission proposes to give concrete substance to its current by presenting, by 2001, legislative texts on: 1) Delays: Companies would have to help delayed passengers on their way by offering them the choice between reimbursement of their ticket or an alternative flight at the earliest opportunity. Also, they would be forbidden to annul whole tickets when a delay or cancellation prevents a passenger flying one leg of a flight. 2) Contracts: Airlines would have to write clear contracts that spell out the service provided and the conditions applied. The aim is to limit biased contracts to the airlines advantage to the detriment of the consumers. 3) Fares: airlines would not be allowed to increase a fare after the ticket has been booked, and should inform passengers of the total price, distinguishing between the fare and additional fees, taxes and charges. 4) Code-sharing: Airlines should inform users when flights carry the code of the contracting airline but another operates the flight under its own brand. 5) Disabled people: Airlines should guarantee access on board for disabled persons who notified their handicap at the time of reservation. 6) Denied boarding and overbooking: The Commission will present a new proposal specifying the amount of compensation in the event of overbooking. This would replace and strengthen the regulation which remained blocked for one year in Council because of the Spanish-British problem regarding jurisdiction at Gibraltar airport.
At the same time, the Commission invites airlines to take voluntary commitments on: 1) information on lowest fares available, 2) rapid information for passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled, 3) adoption of "best practices for disabled passengers, 4) assistance to passengers when luggage is lost, 5) the setting in place of rapid procedures for dealing rapidly with passenger complaints. "Unless airlines manage to come to an agreement on convincing commitments before April 2001, the Commission should include certain of the above-mentioned points in its legislative proposal on contracts, threatens the Commission.