Airlines call for review of EU air passengers' rights to compensation for canceled or delayed flights!
Passengers from European Union countries are eligible to claim compensation from airlines for flights canceled or delayed through the fault of the airline and not due to force majeure.
In normal mode, if the flight has a delay of more than three hours at the destination, passengers are eligible to receive between 250 EURO and 600 EURO, depending on the distance between the departure airport and the arrival airport, despite the fact that such an amount is considered too high by the airlines.
According to a previous Politico report, the Czech Republic, which recently took over the presidency of the European Council, hinted that such an issue is among the topics to be discussed, according to Travel Tomorrow, cited by schengenvisainfo.com.
In addition, the report says that compensation rights have been in place for more than 20 years, and airlines have been arguing against them for another 20 years.
In this regard, a report published by the Air Transport Association (IATA) revealed that refunds for unused tickets for the period March 2020 - May 2020 amounted to a total of 9,2 billion euros in the European Union, as well as in the United Kingdom United.
Recently, a large number of airlines have been forced to cancel or delay flights, mainly due to significant labor shortages as well as strikes, and passengers are eligible to claim compensation. However, the airlines say that now more than ever the rules need to be reviewed, adding that one of the main complaints is that compensation is too high.
"... if you pay 50 euros for the ticket and the flight is canceled or delayed, then you get 250 euros back. This is not correct. It makes no sense!", underlined the CEO of Airlines for Europe (A4E), Thomas Reynaert. Additionally, airlines say the delays don't have that much of an impact on travelers, or at least not enough to warrant compensation.
At the same time, Steven Berger, BEUC's legal advisor, said: "If you go from Lithuania to Portugal for 30 euros and are stuck there for two days between flights, is it fair to only get a few euros in compensation? We need to maintain the level of compensation and strengthen enforcement".
In this regard, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have asked airlines to treat travelers better amid flight cancellations.
At the same time, passenger rights groups have pointed out that the increased number of cases going to court is mainly due to airlines refusing to pay, adding that the rules need to be better enforced, not reduced.
What do you think? Air passenger rights do they need to be revised or are they ok as they are now?