Europe flight delay compensation rights to be weakened
Transport ministers from the EU have agreed a proposal to weaken consumer protections for flight delays.
Current rules under EC261 give travellers the right to claim compensation for most short-haul routes after a three-hour delay. This will now be lengthened to four hours. Compensation amounts will be increased from €250 (£211) to €300.
European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, has pointed out that this change would deprive the ‘majority of passengers from their compensation rights’ as most flights are delayed for periods under four hours.
Similarly, for long-haul flights, the delay time has been increased from four hours to six hours before passengers can claim compensation. For these delays, compensation will be cut from €600 to €500.
EC 261 was introduced by the European Union, including the UK at the time, to improve punctuality, and act as a deterrent for continually running late services or cancelling large numbers of flights. Airlines only have to pay compensation to passengers for delays they are responsible for. It was also to ensure that passengers were not left out of pocket due to airline delays and cancellations.
The proposed changes must still be approved by the EU Parliament within four months.
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Will new EC261 rules on flight delay compensation affect UK passengers?
Yes. UK passengers flying with an EU airline, or from an EU airport can claim under EC261. However, when the UK left the European Union it introduced EC261 into UK law as UK261.
This also covers passengers flying with any airline (including an EU one) from a UK airport, or with a UK carrier from any airport.
Several airlines, such as Ryanair, while being registered in the EU have also set up UK subsidiaries which will be covered by EC261.
UK261 rules won’t automatically change, so UK passengers and those flying with UK airlines will enjoy better protections.
See our guide to claiming for flight delays and cancellations
Right to rerouting on delayed flights improved
Ministers have agreed to better enforcement of rules over rerouting passengers. While EC261 currently requires airlines to reroute delayed passengers to their destination at the earliest opportunity, including on other airlines where necessary, the rule is regularly ignored.
Instead, many airlines tell passengers they must wait until a seat is free on their own flights, which may be several hours or days later.
Now, passengers will be able to buy a new ticket to their destination with another airline, and claim up to 400% of the cost of their original ticket, if their original airline doesn’t rebook them.
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