Commission to step up air passengers’ rights campaign

In the next few weeks - but after the summer holiday season - the European Commission is to relaunch a publicity campaign informing airline passengers of their rights to compensation in the event of delays or cancellations.

The Commission had to withdraw earlier posters and leaflets because they were deemed misleading and inaccurate.

The autumn will see the Commission step up its campaign on air passenger rights in other ways. Member states must comply with EU rules on air passenger rights by October or face legal action. The Commission set the deadline in April after publishing a report showing inconsistent application and poor enforcement of EU regulations.

European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot’s attempt to clamp down on wayward member states could, however, be undermined by the weakness of the two-year-old rules, which attempt to set levels of compensation for passengers suffering disruption as a result of overbooking, cancellations or delays.

After publication of this year’s report, the Commission acknowledged that clarification of the rules was needed in several areas. For example, definitions of delays and cancellations, which require different forms of compensation, overlap. The role of national enforcement bodies charged with disciplining airlines across Europe is unclear.

The scope of one of the regulation’s clauses, which clears airlines of responsibility in cases where ‘extraordinary circumstances’ have caused disruption, is also hotly disputed. The European Court of Justice, acting at the request of a Danish court dealing with a case brought by SAS, the Scandinavian airline, is expected to provide a clearer definition of the term soon.

European airlines claim to be supportive of clearer and stronger rules, but stop short of advocating a list of ‘extraordinary circumstances’. "By nature, they cannot be defined," said Françoise Humbert, communications manager at the Association of European Airlines. "You could try, but the danger of defining them is that some circumstances will not be covered by the regulation. We wouldn’t like to see that."

Barrot’s ability to get tough with airlines has also been hampered by a ruling from the European ombudsman earlier this year that the Commission misled passengers in its passenger information campaign of posters, videos and leaflets. Airlines had complained to the ombudsman that material led passengers to believe compensation applied for all cancellations.

"We have taken note of the ombudsman’s requests," said a Commission official. "We are working on the new posters, which should be ready for distribution in the next few weeks. Then we will make changes to other materials."

Amy Spenlove-Brown, a spokesperson at the International Air Carrier Association, expressed satisfaction with the Commission’s amendments. "We are glad that the information is accurate now. There were a lot of problems created with passengers being wrongly informed of what their rights were," she said. "The new posters are now correct."

In the next few weeks - but after the summer holiday season - the European Commission is to relaunch a publicity campaign informing airline passengers of their rights to compensation in the event of delays or cancellations.