This summer, while helping many of my colleagues who were impacted by last-minute flight cancellations during another summer of travel chaos, I realised that passenger rights issues are like a grumpy old uncle we see every holiday but are never happy to cross paths with again.
During my first internship as a case handler at UFC Que Choisir, a French consumer organisation in my small town of Mâcon, France, in 2010, I heard about the difficulties for passengers to assert their rights. It was when the Eyjafjöll volcano in Iceland blocked the European airspace for days impacting thousands of consumers. This was my first “practical cases” on the Air Passenger Rights Regulation.
Ten years later, the European Commission published a study whose conclusions were crystal clear: passenger rights are still poorly enforced. This was followed up in 2021, by the Commission’s announcement of an upcoming ‘Better Protection of Passengers and their rights” initiative with the clear objective, “to ensure that passengers fully enjoy their rights”.
However, to achieve it, the Commission needs to be ambitious to really empower consumers to exercise their rights, otherwise this initiative will be a new dead end for passengers.
‘Perseverance or nothing’
This could be the title of an action movie but is in fact the state of mind passengers must adopt to see their rights respected, as it can often take months or even years.
Violations of passengers’ rights are indeed so commonplace these days
Violations of passengers’ rights are indeed so commonplace these days that it now seems “normal”. This was confirmed by the Commission’s 2020 study which found enforcement gaps in the 10 “core” passenger rights, including re-routing, and compliance with deadlines to refund passengers.
The reasons for travel disruption (often arising at the last minute) vary – from staff shortages to pilot strikes – but the consumer harm has unfortunately remained the same for years.
It’s in airports that the litany of infringements starts. Not a year goes by without shocking images of consumers stuck for hours or even days, sometimes sleeping on public benches, with no information about when – or if – they will finally be able to get to their long-awaited holiday destination.
Consumers deciding to claim their rights to refund or compensation from airlines, very often face multiple barriers, some of which will certainly be familiar. From malfunctioning web-forms, to broken links to claim forms, or the impossibility of submitting a complaint online – the sources of despair are numerous.
This situation is even worse when consumers have bought their tickets via online booking intermediaries where they are frequently passed back and forth between operators.
This situation is not acceptable and leads me to the one-million-dollar question: “What changes need to be made to the current system to ensure that passengers fully enjoy their rights?”
From a marathon to a sprint: towards a simpler and faster enforcement journey
Enforcing their passenger rights should no longer be a hassle for consumers, but quick and easy. It is with this in mind that the Commission should propose some ambitious and innovative measures in its upcoming “Better Protection of Passengers and their Rights” initiative.
However, in order for these proposals to make a real difference, several things must be taken on board. Firstly, we all hear that digitalisation is a great opportunity to enhance innovation, but it should also help passengers to enforce their rights, for instance by introducing automatic reimbursement/compensation schemes for airlines and travel operators as it already exists (e.g. in rail and energy in the UK). Or to be further informed about their rights when travel disruption occurs.
There should also be clear and harmonised deadlines for travel operators to deal with consumer complaints. These should go hand-in-hand with sanctions for rogue traders who refuse to reimburse consumers on time. The current vague legal wording has led to a patchy enforcement situation where fines vary greatly from one country to another. We need strong enforcement to ensure that airlines, transport and intermediaries comply with passenger rights.
Enforcing their passenger rights should no longer be a hassle for consumers, but quick and easy
When transport operators refuse to play by the rules, consumers need a higher authority that will deal with their complaints. That’s why sectorial Alternative Dispute Resolution bodies (ADR) are so key – they should be created in all transport sectors throughout the EU. Participation should be mandatory – like in the Digital Services Act or the Directive on common rules for the internal market for electricity – with binding decisions upon traders, like in the case of the financial Ombudsman in the UK.
Finally, we need a network of national enforcement bodies with strong investigatory and enforcement powers. This would ensure, for instance, that airlines not playing with the rules can be sanctioned in a coordinated manner, if they continue to flout consumer law. The Commission should also be granted with its own investigatory and enforcement powers to step in to deal with cases of widespread infringements.
Time to make passenger rights a reality on the ground
The “Better Protection of Passengers and their Rights” initiative has – on paper – the potential to be a real game changer for consumers.
However, whether that turns out to be the case depends on whether the Commission comes up with ambitious and far-reaching proposals to really empower consumers to easily – and swiftly – exercise their rights. And that’s high on our wish list for years to come.
For more information on passenger rights, see our website.