Holidaymakers whose flights are cancelled or delayed will for the first time be legally entitled to have the entire cost of their tickets reimbursed after a vote in the European parliament yesterday.
Travellers with delayed flights will also be eligible for financial compensation — on top of reimbursement — of up to £415 each, MEPs decided.
However, consumers should not celebrate too soon – low-cost airlines which lobbied to water down the new rules have warned that they will have no choice but to put up fares as a result.
Nor will this summer’s holidaymakers be able to benefit from the new rules, which are unlikely to take effect for a further 18 months.
When they do become law -once the parliament and EU governments finalise the details — the changes will be radical. The statutory amount of compensation travellers can claim if they are bumped off a flight because it is overbooked will be doubled.
Passengers who suffer that particular fate are currently entitled to compensation of £90 for short-haul flights and £180 for long-haul flights. After yesterday’s vote those figures will go up to £173 and £415 respectively.
But the biggest breakthrough was on cancelled and delayed flights, including charter flights, for which there is currently no statutory compensation. Passengers whose flights are cancelled will now be entitled to the same treatment as those denied boarding — the same levels of compensation plus the same choice of full reimbursement or an alternative flight.
Travellers who suffer delays will get no compensation but will be entitled to full reimbursement provided that the delay is over two hours for short haul-flights or over four hours for longer flights.
Airlines will also be legally bound ”where appropriate” to provide refreshments, meals and hotels for stranded passengers.
”This is good news for consumers,” said Brian Simpson, a Labour MEP specialising in transport matters. He denied the new rules were punitive. ”If airlines get their flights on time, don’t overbook and don’t cancel flights, this legislation will not cost them a penny.”
Ryanair, Virgin Express and EasyJet have all lobbied MEPs on the issue, and yesterday budget airlines expressed discontent with the proposals, warning that big compensation payouts would have to be funded by higher fares.
An EasyJet spokesperson said the level of compensation ought to be related to the cost of a passenger’s ticket, pointing out that the airline’s average fare was £37.
Some customers could end up hoping anxiously for a cancellation in the expectation of receiving five times the cost of their tickets. The spokesperson admitted EasyJet overbooked its busiest flights by ”two or three seats”, although only when there was an alternative flight shortly afterwards.
British Airways also defended its policy of overbooking flights, saying it helped to keep prices low. A spokesman said: ”Without a certain proportion of overbooking we would be constantly flying with un-full planes. Nearly all airlines do it — the skill is to have robust systems in place so that it works.”
There was also concern about attributing blame for delays and cancellations. Airlines said it was often difficult to pin problems on one factor.
But it was not all bad news for carriers. Proposals for mandatory ”name and shame” performance scoreboards were scrapped, and it was agreed that carriers would not have to compensate passengers for cancellations due to industrial action. – Guardian Unlimited Â