New proposals could see holidaymakers miss out on compensation when their flight is delayed in a potential major change to travel rules.
Brussels is said to be under increasing pressure to revise compensation regulations and raise the threshold at which airlines have to pay out to affected customers. Under a new proposal led by Poland, which currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the time before compensation is issued could be raised from the current minimum of three hours to at least five hours.
Current European Union rules state that if you arrive at your final destination with a delay of three hours or more, you are entitled to compensation unless the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances. This applies to all flights operated by both EU and non-EU airlines that arrive or depart from the EU.
These rules are in force in the 27 EU countries, including destinations popular with holidaying Brits such as Spain, France, Greece and Italy. Despite leaving the European Union, the UK decided to adopt this regulation into law, and therefore British travellers benefit from the same rules as European travellers, The Mirror reports.
For a change to come into force, it would first need to pass through the European Parliament and the Council to be brought into law. It is unclear how such a change would impact UK law and British passengers, but there are concerns that the Government would once again follow suit to adopt the same regulations as the EU.
Reinhold Schranz, head of the European Consumer Centre in Austria, commented on the proposals: “Such a revision would significantly weaken passenger rights by raising the compensation thresholds. This would lead to a situation where nearly 85% of affected passengers would no longer be entitled to compensation, since most recorded delays fall between two and four hours.”
Meanwhile, Coby Benson, flight delay compensation solicitor at Bott & Co, told Euronews: “These changes would be hugely detrimental for consumers. If the threshold was raised to five hours, airlines would face no penalty for those lengthy delays and therefore passenger inconvenience will increase.”
As Citizens Advice explains, if your flight is delayed for long enough under current rules then your airline is obligated to provide you with food and drink, access to phone calls and emails, and accommodation if you are delayed overnight. How long the delay has to be in order to be entitled to this depends on the distance of the flight and the countries it is flying between.
Flights less than 1,500km must have been delayed for at least two hours, flights between 1,500km and 3,500km for three hours, and flights longer than 3,500km for four hours. However, compensation beyond these provisions is only issued if a flight arrives more than three hours late.
The catch is that the reason for the delay must be the airline’s fault, such as a technical issue. Citizens Advice warns that you are unlikely to receive any compensation if you were delayed by something outside of the airline’s control, for example bad weather or a security risk.
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/travel-tourism/flight-rule-changes-could-see-31189467
