The
European Parliament on Wednesday approved the first reading of proposed
refinements to the European Union's EU261 regulation on air passenger protections,
some of which are much detested by airlines. Carriers may welcome a new cap of
five nights for accommodating passengers grounded by extraordinary
circumstances, such as the 2010 volcanic ash cloud or political unrest.
However,
most of the other proposals, which must be approved by EU member state
ministers before becoming law, clamp down harder on airlines.
In
particular, the European Parliament noted that only 2 percent of passengers who
file complaints against airlines for delays or cancellations receive
compensation. Airlines often wriggle out by citing extraordinary circumstances,
during which they are required to look after the passenger until they are flown
to their destination, but not to pay compensation. The new draft rules state
that airlines would have to provide a full written explanation of the "extraordinary
circumstances" obviating the need to compensate. Members of the European
Parliament also want to create an exhaustive list of what would be defined as
extraordinary circumstances.
Carriers
failing to reply to a complaint within two months would be deemed to have
accepted the passenger's claims. Airlines also would be required within 30
minutes of a flight being delayed to make contact persons available at airports
to inform passengers about their rights and complaints procedures.
Additionally,
the revised EU261 deals with the rights of passengers to use or not use ticket
coupons. Airlines would be barred from denying boarding to passengers using the
return portion of their ticket if they did not take the outbound journey. The
updated EU261 also would introduce U.S.-style rules regarding tarmac delays.
Passengers would have the right to disembark after two hours (assuming no
security risks exist), and after three hours they would have the option of
reimbursement, a return flight to their point of origination or re-routing.
Member
state transport ministers meeting as the Council of Ministers in June 2014 can
choose either to accept the European Parliament's position or propose their
own.