The European Union is finally stepping in where cajoling, crying, praying and waiting on hold during working hours listening to a loop of instrumental interpretations of Neil Diamond has so far failed. The commission has introduced a clarified bill of air travellers’ rights, updated for the era of volcanic clouds and discount airlines and post-Diamond telephony.
On the face of it the new rules don’t do a lot for travellers that existing rules aren’t already meant to be doing. In fact in some cases the rules, which aren’t expected to become law before 2014, ease the burden on the airlines. For instance carriers will only be responsible for up to three nights accommodation, which should in any case be more than enough time to fix any technical problems (and if they’re not, after three days, I’m walking) and more time is allowed before a flight has to be declared cancelled.
So the bill is really about clarification. Passenger rights are already EU-wide legislation but they lacked a clarity that left passengers unsure of their rights and airlines of their responsibilities. For instance, polls of travellers indicated that airlines are unsure if passengers of delayed flights should be considered cattle or freight and they regularly ignore legitimate requests for compensation. It was also found that in fewer than 50% of cases did airlines fulfill their responsibility to provide accommodation, meals, water or any of the basics necessary to sustain life.
Another survey suggested that between two and five percent of compensation claims were honoured by the airlines. While it’s unlikely that the actual number is anywhere near that high the new guidelines serve to remind the airlines that we’re onto them and just not answering the phones, while effective, isn’t fooling anyone.
Other changes introduced by the proposed legislation appear to be aimed at the smaller indignities suffered by delayed passengers:
- Carriers will have to make up an absurd fiction explaining any delays no later than 30 minutes after the expected departure time.
- The practice of charging to correct misspelled names on tickets will have to be replaced by some other offensively petty surcharge. A shoe tax, possibly, or coin-operated toilet paper dispensers.
- Above all passengers will have to be offered an alternative route, even on a rival carrier, if a flight is going to be delayed for more than 12 hours.
It remains to be seen precisely how airlines will flout these new regulations but industry analysts pretending to not be paid shills for the airlines are already claiming that the implementation costs will only be passed along to the consumer in the form of higher ticket prices. The implication that airlines don’t already charge exactly as much as they can get away with appears to have failed to influence the pending legislation.