EU ambassadors back air passenger rights reform

BRUSSELS — EU ambassadors approved Friday afternoon the final compromise on the bloc's reform of air passenger rights negotiated by the Cyprus Council presidency with the European Parliament, four diplomats told POLITICO.

According to one diplomat, the compromise secured support well above the qualified-majority threshold required for adoption.

The text will still need to be approved by the MEPs sitting on the conciliation committee — a joint body convened to resolve disagreements between Parliament and member countries for this file — before Monday’s deadline. It will then proceed to the final stages of the legislative process, including a plenary vote in Parliament expected in July.

The compromise, aimed at striking a better balance between airlines' interests and passenger rights, preserves several key elements of the current framework, including the three-hour delay threshold that grants the right to compensation and compensation levels ranging from €250 to €600 depending on the length of the flight.

It also 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 submit a request” for compensation. The provision is intended to increase awareness of passenger rights among travelers, most of whom currently do not claim compensation.

However, co-legislators decided not to introduce an obligation for airlines to send passengers either a pre-filled compensation form or a direct link to a claim form — two proposals that were pushed by MEPs and were part of previous drafts, but failed to secure sufficient support among member countries.

The reform was originally introduced in 2013, but years of wrangling between EU institutions, growing mistrust and competing industry interests led to numerous delays.