The ambassadors of the EU member states approved on Friday afternoon the final compromise on the reform of air passenger rights in the EU bloc, negotiated by the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council with the European Parliament, reports Politico after discussions with four European diplomats.
According to one of the diplomats, the compromise won support well above the qualified majority threshold required for adoption.
The text will still have to be approved by the MEPs who are part of the conciliation committee – the joint body convened to resolve the differences between the Parliament and the member states regarding this file – before the Monday deadline.
It will then go through the final stages of the legislative process, including a vote in the plenary of the European Parliament, expected in July.
The most important provision for passengers remained unchanged
The compromise, which aims to strike a better balance between airline interests and passenger rights, retains several key elements of the current framework.
These include the three-hour delay threshold entitling to compensation and compensation levels of between €250 and €600, depending on the length of the flight.
The document introduces an obligation for airlines to provide passengers whose flights are canceled or delayed by at least three hours with “clear instructions on how to make a claim” for compensation.
The measure is intended to increase the level of information of travelers about their rights, given that most passengers do not currently request the compensations to which they are entitled.
A compromise that will probably please the airlines
However, the final form of the document does not introduce an obligation for airlines to send passengers either a pre-filled compensation form or a direct link to a compensation request form.
These two proposals were supported by MEPs and included in previous versions of the text, but failed to gain enough support from member states.
The reform was originally proposed in 2013, but years of wrangling between EU institutions, growing distrust between them and competing industry interests have led to numerous delays, writes Politico.
