Commission publishes new guidelines for more clarity on air passenger rights

Enhanced Clarity and Consistent Enforcement for EU Travelers

Brussels / July 22, 2024 / EU -- The European Commission has published revised interpretative guidelines on air passenger rights to ensure clearer compliance and harmonized enforcement by national bodies. Since 2016, these guidelines have addressed concerns from enforcement bodies, passengers, and industry representatives. The new revisions incorporate recent Court of Justice rulings and add a section on managing massive travel disruptions.

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Additionally, new guidelines on the rights of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility when traveling by air have been issued.

Passenger rights in the EU are enforced by national bodies, but inconsistencies can cause confusion, particularly on cross-border journeys. The updated guidelines aim to improve implementation and complement awareness-raising efforts, including online campaigns, the Your Europe web pages, and a passenger rights mobile app.

Key Survey Insights

A new Eurobarometer survey reveals that while awareness of passenger rights has increased, many Europeans still feel inadequately informed. Key findings include:

Information Awareness: 33% of respondents felt well-informed about rail travel rights, 30% about air travel, 27% about coach travel, and 16% about ship/ferry travel.

Disability Assistance: 84% of respondents requesting assistance for disabilities or reduced mobility were satisfied with the response.

Pre-Travel Information: 75% of plane passengers received pre-travel information on their rights, compared to 61% for rail, 51% for coaches, and 54% for ships/ferries.

Satisfaction with Disruption Handling: 66% of flight passengers were satisfied with how disruptions were handled, followed by 53% for ships/ferries, 52% for rail, and 50% for coaches.

Multimodal Journeys: Only 11% use single tickets for multimodal journeys, with rail/coach (39%) and air/rail (25%) being the most common combinations. Issues such as missed connections were reported by 32% of travelers.

Next Steps

The guidelines are now available for operators and national enforcement bodies. They will also inform co-legislators as they consider proposals on enforcing passenger rights and multimodal journey rights, as well as the Commission’s 2013 legislative proposal on air passenger rights.

Background

The EU uniquely protects passengers across all transport modes—air, rail, ship, and bus/coach—based on principles of non-discrimination, accurate information, and timely assistance. The Eurobarometer survey, conducted from January 12 to February 4, 2024, included 26,601 citizen interviews to gauge public opinion on EU-related issues.