Brussels updates guidelines on air passenger rights
Airport check-in - Athens Airport - Photo By Leonid Mamchenkov
(BRUSSELS) - The EU Commission published revised interpretative guidelines Monday on air passenger rights aimed at facilitating compliance with regulations and harmonising enforcement by national bodies.
The EU executive has since 2016 provided guidelines to address common concerns raised by national enforcement bodies, passengers and their associations, and industry representatives. Today's revision takes into account rulings by the Court of Justice that clarify certain provisions, allowing for more effective and consistent enforcement of the rules. A new section on massive travel disruptions has also been added.
Revised interpretative guidelines on the rights of persons with disabilities and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air have also been published.
Passenger rights defined at EU level are applied by transport providers and enforced by national bodies. Disparities between national practices can create confusion for passengers when they face challenges during their journey, especially if it spans EU borders. It can also be difficult for passengers to understand the necessary steps and find appropriate assistance.
The new guidelines come together with the release of a new Eurobarometer survey, which highlights that most Europeans still feel that they lack sufficient information on their passenger rights, even if awareness increased compared to five years ago.
Results highlight that respondents were most likely to feel well informed about passenger rights for travel by rail (33%), followed by air (30%), coach (27%) and then ship/ferry (16%). The survey also shows that 84% of respondents requesting assistance for persons with disabilities or reduced mobility were satisfied with the response.
Use of single tickets for multimodal journeys remains limited at 11% (unchanged), with rail/coach (39%, +9 pp) and air/rail (25%, +1 pp) the most common combinations. 32% (+7 pp) faced issues, 13% (+4 pp) almost missed a connection, and 11% (+3 pp) actually missed a connection.
Communication to the Commission on air passenger rights