Will an equivalent to EU261 continue post-Brexit?

[Melburnian1]

In the QF delays/ cancellations thread AFF member MEL_Traveller kindly reminded those on a recent 24-hour delayed QF2 (LHR - DXB - SYD) that they should submit a claim for EU261 compensation of Euro 600 per passenger, although whether QF accepts these is a moot point.

The UK's exit from the EU will not be instant. Some laws have to be repealed and there will be much negotiation.

Do AFFers believe that once the UK departs from the EU that no equivalent of EU261 will be passed in to law applicable to the UK - selling point for the UK government would be 'we're lowering the cost of doing business for airlines, getting rid of those interfering bureaurcrats from Brussels and hence air ticket prices can come down or not rise as fast' - or will Westminster pass a similar imposition on airlines?

Is EU261 popular with the community (including air travellers) in the UK and the EU, or do most non-flyers not even know about it?

 

[glasszon]

From what I read on the news, in the short term they will copy all EU legislation into UK law until they can figure out what to keep and what to delete, no doubt it will also depends on whether a soft or hard brexit took place.

Other than that I don't think anyone knows, this probably will not be high on their Brexit agenda....

 

[Himeno]

There is still no word as to if brexit will even happen, much less what type of 'exit' it will be. With the UK courts requiring a vote in Parliament before Article 50 can be triggered and most of Parliament not wanting to leave the EU (especially with Scotland, Northern Ireland and London not wanting to leave), it is possible brexit might not happen at all, and if it does, it would be more like Norway and Iceland being in the EEA and not EU, while still having to follow EU rules with no say in EU Institutions.

 

[anat0l]

There is still no word as to if brexit will even happen, much less what type of 'exit' it will be. With the UK courts requiring a vote in Parliament before Article 50 can be triggered and most of Parliament not wanting to leave the EU (especially with Scotland, Northern Ireland and London not wanting to leave), it is possible brexit might not happen at all, and if it does, it would be more like Norway and Iceland being in the EEA and not EU, while still having to follow EU rules with no say in EU Institutions.

Let's not get into "there will be no Brexit". As much as there may be a strong "remain" segment and much Bregret, let's just keep with the prevailing voted idea that the UK will leave the EU.

I'd imagine that UK will keep some semblance of EU261, but it will operate separately of the EU, of course, enforced wholly in a UK jurisdiction. I'd imagine that if the "EU261" regulation went, it would be quickly be encouraged to be put back by pro-consumer bodies and so on, although this will be strongly against the lobbies of the airlines who wouldn't mind seeing the back of it (at least from the UK end of things). People in the UK have been used to EU261 for quite a bit (same with the equivalent regulation for rail); with enough spit-taking media cases bandied around the UK about getting compensation for flight mishaps, it'd be a surprise if it doesn't remain or at least in a bespoke UK flavour.

The airlines of the UK will have their own obligations to EU261 anyway with regards to flights flying out of the EU still covered under the regulation; it does mean that without specific provisions, you can't seek EU261 redress in UK jurisdiction after Brexit.

 

[neilmeister]

I personally love the EU261 regulation.

I got 'denied boarding' once about 10 years ago, with boarding passes in hand for me, wife and baby in CDG, we were originally delayed 2 hours but during boarding we waited until the bus was almost full to get in the queue and the last 6 of us were denied boarding on due to weather changes.

Anyway, waited another 40 minutes until the next flight, but got 701 pounds (then almost $2000 AUD) as compensation.... paid for my next 3 European jaunts! (It did take me almost 2 hours on the phone to BA however, they argued long and hard that they were not liable until suddenly the operator completely agreed, this incident made me realise how airlines/insurance firms operate and that they planned on operator intransigence to filter out a lot of people who gave up early)

 

[bryanjones]

Most passengers know - in my experience they have signs and leaflets at the checkin counter

 

[anat0l]

Most passengers know - in my experience they have signs and leaflets at the checkin counter

The regulation requires that the following notice be clearly seen at check-in:

"If you are denied boarding or if your flight is cancelled or delayed for at least two hours, ask at the check-in counter or boarding gate for the text stating your rights, particularly with regard to compensation and assistance."

In addition, in the event that measures may be inevitable (e.g. cancellation, delay more than 2 hours), the regulation requires the airline to provide a written text outlining rules for assistance and compensation under the Regulation.

So your experience should be fairly consistent as airlines are required to display and hand out this information according to the regulation. I suppose not many people have enough time to go after the airlines if they should fail these obligations to inform; most would be more focused on getting the airlines to cough up compensation in the first place.