Alan George/BRUSSELS
The measures - some compulsory, some voluntary - include compensation for long delays, the introduction of clearer contracts and a crackdown on overbooking. The last of these, at least, has provoked anger among European airlines.
The European Commission (EC) accompanied the launch of this "communication" or policy document, with the launch of a poster campaign across major airports to promote wider knowledge of passenger rights.
"Although many fares have fallen, passengers are more and more dissatisfied with the service they receive and feel defenceless when they are victims of overbooking or suffer serious delays," said Palacio. "It is time for the Community to respond and to strengthen the protection of passengers."
The communication, adopted by the EC Council on 26 June, was prepared in collaboration with David Byrne, the commissioner responsible for consumer policy. "The reinforcement of consumers' rights vis-a-vis airlines and airport authorities is a key objective of this Commission," he says.
Legislation is planned requiring airlines to offer delayed passengers the choice of reimbursement or an alternative flight at the earliest opportunity. Airlines would no longer be able to annul whole tickets when a delay or cancellation prevented passengers flying one leg of a flight.
On overbooking, the Commission intends to withdraw proposals to amend existing legislation and will instead put forward "stronger measures". Palacio says the EC would "pay special attention" to overbooking "as there is no bigger frustration than to be denied boarding when you have already paid for the ticket for a long time".
Xabier de Irala, chairman of Iberia and current president of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) reacted swiftly to what he sees as the unworkable economics of preventing carriers from overbooking flights. "It is no solution when the medicine is much more dangerous than the illness it is designed to cure," he says, arguing instead for voluntary compensation as in the USA.
Airlines will also be required to write clear contracts spelling out services and conditions. Fares will have to be clear and predictable and airlines will be forbidden from increasing a fare after a ticket has been booked. In codesharing arrangements, carriers will have to specify in their contracts the carrier that will be operating the flight and the only set of conditions of carriage applying will be those of the contracting airline. There is also a requirement to provide free basic services for disabled passengers.
The EC will also seek agreement on voluntary measures, including: rapid information when flights are delayed; meals and hotels for delayed passengers; higher liability limits for lost baggage; the lowest available fares to be offered when passengers make reservations; and the institution of effective complaints procedures.
Finally, the EC also plans to publish performance league tables based on data that airlines will be obliged to supply.
At a press conference at Rome Airport on 23 June to launch the information campaign, Palacio said that the measures would apply to "any airline operating in Europe", whether European or not.
It is as yet unclear what will be the precise relationship between the EC's package and a voluntary code of practice that the AEA expects to finalise later this year. The airlines, concerned at the potential costs of legislation, had hoped to ward off legislation, in the same way that a code adopted by US airlines last year averted official regulation there. It is understood that the AEA's code will closely echo its US counterpart.
AEA secretary-general Karl Heinz Neumeister says the airlines had feared even more stringent measures than those that the EC has now unveiled. "It is more realistic than what we had heard before," he says. "The concrete legislative proposals are reasonable and I appreciate that our readiness for voluntary agreements is seen as a part of the picture."
Source: Airline Business
