EU agrees on air passenger rights: compensation payments remain in place

German Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder expressly welcomed the agreement. The compromise would finally create "after years of negotiations the necessary legal clarity", he declared. In addition, the solution now found drew on "what has been lived practice for years and is familiar to passengers and air carriers". The aim of the federal government had been "to adopt a regulation that strikes a balance between the interests of consumer protection and the economic and operational requirements of the air transport industry".

What the compensation provides for

At the heart of the reform is the preservation of the previous flat-rate compensation amounts. Passengers who arrive at their destination with a delay of at least three hours will continue to receive tiered compensation payments: 250 euros for flights of up to 1,500 kilometres, 400 euros for distances of up to 3,500 kilometres, and 600 euros on long-haul flights of more than 3,500 kilometres. The prerequisite is that the airline is responsible for the delay.

This entrenches the line that the European Parliament and consumer advocates had long championed. Member states had originally demanded that compensation be paid only from a delay of four hours and in lower amounts. This position did not prevail. The compensation rates that have applied in the EU for years remain unchanged.

Alongside the financial compensation, the reform provides for additional transparency obligations. In future, airlines must inform passengers in writing within 96 hours of which rights they have and how they can assert them when problems occur. This is intended to improve the situation, which has often been unclear for those affected.

New obligations for airlines

A further component concerns the reservation of seats for children. In future, children may sit next to their parents on the aircraft without a fee being charged for reserving the adjacent seat. In addition, the reform obliges airlines to make name corrections on tickets free of charge.

The reform also provides for a clearer list of so-called extraordinary circumstances under which the airline cannot be held liable. This is intended to make the distinction between delays for which the airline is responsible and those for which it is not more precise. The new rules apply to flights by EU airlines as well as to flights by non-EU airlines that depart from the EU.

Timeline and scope

After the reform enters into force, the airlines have twelve months to implement the new requirements in practice. If the reform is not confirmed in time, the original proposal of the EU Commission from 2013 would fail. The deadline for confirmation expired on Monday at midnight.

The agreement meets with a positive response from consumer advocates in Germany. Ramona Pop, board member of the Federation of German Consumer Organisations, said that air passenger rights thus remained "a positive example of successful EU consumer policy". SPD member of the Bundestag Udo Schieder declared that "reason had prevailed" and that air travellers would still receive tiered compensation.

Reactions from Berlin and Brussels

Approval also came from the ranks of the federal government. Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, who had supported the German negotiating position, assessed the outcome as a success for travellers. The federal government had worked together with other member states to ensure that existing protection standards would not be lowered.

Critics from the aviation industry had warned beforehand of rising costs and a hollowing-out of the principle of personal responsibility. The argument advanced by the airlines – that an expansion of compensation could lead to price increases – was, however, rejected by the majority of member states in the course of the negotiations.

Positions of the aviation industry

Lufthansa, the largest German airline, had in the past also advocated strongly for a reform that would harmonise the rules and provide greater legal certainty. From company circles it was said that, above all, clearer definitions of extraordinary circumstances were expected from the reform, in order to be able to delimit disputes more effectively in future.

Overall, the agreement shows that, despite pressure from various interest groups, the EU is sticking to its standards in consumer protection. With confirmation by the European Parliament and the Council, the compromise is considered secure. Travellers can rely on the fact that the well-known compensation payments for delays remain in place and that the enforcement of their claims will be more clearly regulated in future.

The reform now adopted will enter into force after formal adoption. This brings to an end a process that began back in 2013 with a proposal from the EU Commission and has since been repeatedly postponed in numerous rounds of negotiations between Parliament, Council and Commission. The solution reached is considered politically viable because it neither lowers consumer protection rights nor entirely ignores the economic concerns of the aviation industry.