Delayed flight? It could soon be harder for you to claim compensation from airlines

Air passengers in Europe take pleasure in a few of the greatest shopper protections on this planet. However the European Union is considering watering down these passenger-friendly measures, which might go away travellers out of pocket.

The present regulation, often called EU261, has been in place since 2005, offering passengers with compensation and help within the occasion their journey doesn’t go to plan. A revision to those guidelines has been debated since 2013, however has resurfaced this week as Brussels as soon as once more comes beneath stress from airways and lobbying teams.

It might imply the period of time your flight must be delayed earlier than compensation is paid might change.   

At the moment, passengers should arrive at their vacation spot at the very least three hours late to ensure that EU261 to use. A brand new proposal led by Poland, which at the moment holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, might see this threshold raised to at the very least 5 hours.

“These adjustments could be vastly detrimental for customers,” says Coby Benson, flight delay compensation solicitor at Bott & Co, noting that the present three-hour threshold incentivises airways to run a punctual operation. “If the edge was raised to 5 hours, airways would face no penalty for these prolonged delays and subsequently passenger inconvenience will improve.”

What’s EU261 and the way does it shield passengers?

Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, generally known as EU261, is a European Union regulation that establishes the rights of air passengers in circumstances of flight delays, cancellations, and denied boarding. It ensures passengers are entitled to compensation, help, and reimbursement when their journey plans go fallacious.

EU261 applies to any flight departing from an EU airport, whatever the airline’s nationality, and flights arriving at EU airports in the event that they’re operated by an EU airline. It doesn’t cowl flights heading to Europe on non-EU airways, or non-European flights which have a layover in Europe. 

The regulation covers all member states plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. The UK has adopted the identical standards for compensation, with the legislation known as UK261.

At the moment, passengers are entitled to compensation if they’re delayed for greater than three hours, if the flight is cancelled inside 14 days of departure, and in the event that they had been denied boarding as a result of the flight was overbooked. 

Compensation will not be payable for ‘extraordinary circumstances,’ which embody excessive climate, air site visitors management restrictions, strikes not involving the airline’s employees, and political instability. 

The quantity of compensation you get will rely on the size of the delay and the space of your flight. The utmost payable for anybody declare is €600, which might contain a flight of greater than 3,500 km and a delay of 4 hours plus.

“The significance of dependable and secure journey for customers has been highlighted by the flight chaos of current summers and the coronavirus pandemic,” Karolina Wojtal, head of the European Shopper Centre (ECC) in Germany, informed Euronews Journey. “Far too usually, passengers are confronted with cancelled or delayed flights.”

In keeping with information from flight compensation firm Skycop, virtually 2 per cent of exits from EU airports had been both considerably delayed or cancelled in 2024. Between June and August, the busiest journey months, greater than 60,000 flights had been disrupted to the extent they had been lined by EU261. Skycop estimates the entire invoice at €2 billion in passenger compensation. 

What are the adjustments to flight compensation at the moment being thought of?

The adjustments being debated now are the identical ones proposed in 2013. These embody introducing a structured compensation scheme for delays, transferring from the present three-hour threshold to 5 hours for short-haul, 9 hours for medium-haul and so long as 12 hours for the longest flights.

“Such a revision would considerably weaken passenger rights by elevating the compensation thresholds,” says Reinhold Schranz, head of the European Shopper Centre in Austria. “This might result in a state of affairs the place practically 85 per cent of affected passengers would not be entitled to compensation—since most recorded delays fall between 2 and 4 hours.”

Airlines4Europe, an airline affiliation representing 70 per cent of European air site visitors, argues that extending the flight delay to 5 hours would really end in extra passengers attending to their locations. They are saying it “would act as a robust incentive for airways to unravel any attainable delays earlier than reaching the edge” and keep away from a cancellation of the flight.

Nonetheless, Schranz warns that passengers might face elevated delays if the protections are weakened. “As compensation for cancellations stays due no matter delay length, airways may be incentivised to delay flights fairly than cancel them to keep away from paying compensation,” he added.

Ought to airways be paying passengers extra compensation?

Regardless of the true time period worth of payouts altering because of inflation, the quantities paid beneath EU261 haven’t modified in twenty years. 

AirAdvisor, a flight compensation firm, says reforms are wanted to EU261 to take care of its worth to customers.

“EU261 compensation has been stagnant for twenty years, and inflation has eroded its worth,” says Anton Radchenko, CEO of AirAdvisor. “If EU regulators do not modify these charges, they may fail to incentivise airways or present significant compensation to passengers. Proper now, passengers might not even trouble claiming compensation for quantities as little as €250.”

Many airways are utterly against EU261, significantly the low-cost and short-haul operators. With passengers paying as little as €20 for a flight on Ryanair, the airline may be left severely out of pocket if dozens of individuals declare compensation for a delay.

“We expect the quantities are disproportionate,” Philip Meeson, CEO of Jet2, informed the Impartial. “We expect it might be an excellent concept to evaluation the foundations and make them proportionate.”

The Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) has lengthy demanded a evaluation of the foundations. “They’re a large number,” says director normal Willie Walsh. “They price airways €5 billion a yr and do nothing to drive enhancements in a few of the worst-performing corners of the aviation system or enhance the flying expertise.”

For the ECC in Germany, the main target is on sustaining current requirements fairly than rising the quantities payable. Head Karolina Wotjal factors out that point thresholds are essential to triggering fee, and that if these had been modified, even larger compensation quantities wouldn’t assist the patron as fewer individuals would have the ability to declare.

“Shoppers see the existence of robust passenger rights as successful for the EU,” says Wotjal. “Lowering their rights at this political second will not be a great sign in any respect.”

When will passenger compensation for flight delays change?

With new proposals floated and in dialogue, there may be now a protracted street forward to get any adjustments cemented into laws. Conversations are more likely to proceed over the approaching months, with outcomes going by the European Parliament and the Council, each of which must log off on the ultimate textual content.

When the UK ‘Brexited’ the EU, it had the choice to cease following the directives of the Union. Nonetheless, it adopted EU261 into UK legislation, and passengers from the UK are allowed the identical protections for flights as their European counterparts.

Ought to the rule change within the EU, it wouldn’t naturally alter within the UK. Nonetheless, as Benson notes, “it stays to be seen whether or not the UK authorities would look to comply with swimsuit and voluntarily search to deliver our legislation consistent with Europe.”

For now, the three-hour rule stays in place, so travellers who’re delayed can nonetheless search compensation. However the end result of discussions in Brussels might have far-reaching impacts on passenger rights in Europe.