Air Passenger Rights in the EU

The European Commission recently released the results of a Eurobarometer survey on passenger rights in the European Union (EU). According to the survey, 43% of EU citizens who have travelled by air, long distance rail, coach, ship or ferry in the previous 12 months (‘travellers’) know that the EU has put in place rights for passengers.

Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said: “The European Union is the only area in the world where citizens are protected by a full set of passenger rights. However, these rights need to be better known and easier to understand and enforced. Our rules should also provide more legal certainty to passengers and the industry. This is why the Commission proposed to modernise air and rail passenger rights. We now need Council and the European Parliament to swiftly reach agreement on them to ensure that people travelling in the EU are effectively protected.”

Air Passenger Rights and Covid-19

Unfortunately, passengers and the European transport industry are hit hard by the Covid-19 outbreak. Containment measures of authorities, such as travel restrictions, lock-downs and quarantine zones, imply that transport may be one of the most severely affected sectors of this pandemic. The situation is stressful for many passengers, whose travel arrangements have been cancelled and/or who do not wish or are not allowed to travel anymore.

The European Union (EU) is the only area in the world where citizens are protected by a full set of passenger rights, whether they travel by air, rail, bus and coach or ship.

Given the unprecedented situation Europe has been experiencing due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the European Commission clarified by issuing Guidelines on EU passenger rights regulations as well as the corresponding obligations for carriers. ECC Net received over of 25000 consumer queries relating to COVID19.

ECC Net and Air Passenger Rights

 Across the EU, Norway, United Kingdom and Iceland, the European Consumer Centre Network (ECC-Net) assists consumers and offers a unique overview and reliable information about consumer affairs in the Internal Market which can be used for policy making in collaboration with European and national stakeholders.