EU 261 / 2004 - Planned Revisions/Clarifications to Air Passenger Rights Regulation

[serfty]

There is still a long way to go; probably 18 months before any changes are enacted. These still needs to go through some hoops yet, and political agreement doesn't mean that the European Parliament will agree.

Commission welcomes landmark agreement on revised air passenger rights *

The European Commission welcomes the political agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the revision of EU air passenger rights.

ec.europa.eu

EUR-Lex - 52013PC0130 - EN - EUR-Lex

eur-lex.europa.eu

Key points:

• Passengers who do not take the outbound journey of a return booking cannot be denied boarding on the return flight. Airlines may not charge a fee to allow a passenger to take the return in such circumstances.
• Hand Baggage must be included in base fare.
• The term 'price of the ticket' is replaced by 'flight price' in relation to Downgrades.
• Compensation amounts to remain the same.
• Affected PAX must be proactively informed of their rights under the regulation within 96 hours of any disruption.
• Extraordinary circumstances are set out in a list, and the rules on how they are applied have been refined,

 

[serfty]

Annex 1

'Annex: non-exhaustive list of circumstances considered as extraordinary circumstances for the purposes of this Regulation

1. The following circumstances shall be considered as extraordinary:

• i. natural disasters rendering impossible the safe operation of the flight;
• ii. technical problems which are not inherent in the normal operation of the aircraft, such as the identification of a defect during the flight operation concerned and which prevents the normal continuation of the operation; or a hidden manufacturing defect revealed by the manufacturer or a competent authority and which impinges on flight safety;
• iii. security risks, acts of sabotage or terrorism rendering impossible the safe operation of the flight;
• iv. life-threatening health risks or medical emergencies necessitating the interruption or deviation of the flight concerned;
• v. air traffic management restrictions or closure of airspace or an airport;
• vi. meteorological conditions incompatible with flight safety; and
• vii. labour disputes at the operating air carrier or at essential service providers such as airports and Air Navigation Service Providers.

2. The following circumstances shall not be considered as extraordinary:

• i. technical problems inherent in the normal operation of the aircraft, such as a problem identified during the routine maintenance or during the pre-flight check of the aircraft or which arises due to failure to correctly carry out such maintenance or pre-flight check; and
• ii. unavailability of flight crew or cabin crew (unless caused by labour disputes).

 

[transpactraveller]

Hand Baggage must be included in base fare.

This is the one that's making headlines in all the news stories.

"EU bans airlines from charging for carry-on bags"

The other one that's not in your list is the ban on charging seat selection fees for children to sit next to their parents.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

1.ii may present some interesting court cases! Particularly around the definition of ‘defect’.

 

[Ansett Nostalgic]

• Passengers who do not take the outbound journey of a return booking cannot be denied boarding on the return flight. Airlines may not charge a fee to allow a passenger to take the return in such circumstances.

So book cheap ex EU J fares and use them as a one way just take the 'return' segment from Australia to EU and they can't stop us!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

So book cheap ex EU J fares and use them as a one way just take the 'return' segment from Australia to EU and they can't stop us!

Will need to look in to this and see how it applies, more specifically, is it tied to place of ticket purchase?

So if a non-EU carrier sells a ticket, and you wish to use the return leg from outside the EU?

Another interesting point is that of re-routing. If the airline doesn’t do it for you, the maximum limit for self-rebooking will now be 400% of the fare paid.

That will benefit LCCs. Won’t be tooo much of an impact of pax with legacy carriers and legacy fares.

 

[LondonAussie]

The right to rerouting section is also updated so that airlines MUST consider rerouting on other carriers if they cannot accommodate the passenger on their own services.

The changes also introduce more rights for customers needing special assistance including mobility impaired, pregnant and unaccompanied minors. They will be entitled to compensation if sufficient assistance isn’t provided, and ‘no show’ penalties will be banned entirely for them.

 

[transpactraveller]

I like these additions too:

• For the purposes of compensation and right to care, a flight that diverts to another destination for any reason, or returns to the departure airport for any reason, will be considered a cancelled flight

• Spelling mistakes in names must be corrected free of charge

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The right to rerouting section is also updated so that airlines MUST consider rerouting on other carriers if they cannot accommodate the passenger on their own services.

But… subject to the 400% cap. Which means you are unlikely to be buying a ticket on Ryanair or Wizz and ending up on BA.

 

[transpactraveller]

A good summary of the EU changes

Positive changes for customers:

1. Fares must include an under-seat personal item and 1 piece of overhead luggage by default
2. Airlines will be banned from charging a fee for printing boarding passes and cannot require customers to use an app to check in or download a boarding pass.
3. New rights during “tarmac delays”
   1. After 30 minutes, airlines must provide free water and allow access to toilets
   2. After 2 hours the airline must allow any passengers to disembark, unless infeasible.
4. Airlines cannot cancel a return journey or charge additional fees if the passenger doesn't take the outward journey
5. Airlines must offer re-routing within 3 hours of the scheduled departure time and must consider re-routing on other airlines
6. Diversions will be considered a cancellation unless it's to another airport serving the same city. Alternative transport must be provided to the booked destination.
7. Credit vouchers that aren't fully used within 1 year of issuance must be paid out in cash
8. Airlines must respond to compensation claims within 30 days
9. Airlines must provide more details to justify dismissing claims under ‘exceptional circumstances’
10. Meal vouchers provided during delays must be accepted by all airport shops
11. All EU airport terminals must provide free water and phone charging facilities

Negative changes for customers:

1. Protections for denied boarding will now only kick in if the customer arrived at the gate in time to board. Under current EU rules the airlines must accomodate customers who miss boarding due to airport security or passport delays.
2. Compensation will be reduced if a customer is rebooked to an earlier departure
3. Arrival time for delay calculation will now be when the aircraft arrives at the gate instead of when the door opens
4. Airlines would now only be required to cover up to 3 nights of accomodation, capped at 100 EUR per night, if 'exceptional circumstances' apply.
5. A cap of 400% of the originally paid fare will now apply to reimbursements for self-rerouting.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Fair enough regarding the duty of care and hotels. It was an excessive burden on carriers for matters completely out of their control, like war or airspace closure.