Say "NO" to suspend passenger right to claim compensation at delays over 3 hours!

Following a judgment by the European Court of Justice, air passenger may claim compensation at delays from 3 hours (except in extraordinary circumstances). However, the European Commission proposes (amending Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004) to abolish 3 hour's delay rule and establish different delay periods of 5 hours, 9 hours and 12 hours (dictated by the length of the flight) before the right to compensation is triggered. We have started the petition and need your help to get it off the ground. It will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now. Please join this campaign here.

Say "NO" to weaken the passenger right to assistance in extraordinary circumstances!

The proposal of the European Commission (amending Article 9 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004) will reduce currently unlimited passenger right to assistance in extraordinary circumstances, e.g. heavy snowfall. Such change (limiting the provision of accommodation by any airline to 100 EUR per night and 3 nights) will result in more stranded passengers at the airports. We have started the petition and need your help to get it off the ground. It will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now. Please join this campaign here.

Say "NO" to wait on board of the plane for 5 hours in case of tarmac delay!

The proposal of the European Commission (amending Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004)  will oblige a passenger to remain in the plane for 5 hours in case of tarmac delay. The inconvenience and anxiety caused to passengers who are left waiting inside the airplane on the tarmac should give the passenger the right to disembark the plane after 3 hours of the delay. The similar regulation observed in US since April 2010 has forced carrier to take plane back to the gate after three hours. We have started the petition and need your help to get it off the ground. It will you take 30 seconds to sign it right now. Please join this campaign here.

Help stranded passengers in the event of airline insolvency!

According to the forecast presented by the European Commission, the average number of passengers affected by airline insolvency in Europe will rise up to 480.000, in 2020. Basing on the recent statistics, it can be presumed that about 12 % of them will be stranded on the airports, far away from home. We think that this relatively small group of passengers (according to Eurostat data from 2011, currently, in EU, it is 39.000 people out of 777 million people traveling by planes) should have bigger protection and should be provided with immediate help. Especially, because they are entitled to these rights under regulation (EC) No 261/2004, and the expected help will facilitate their fast return to their homes.

At the same time, we point out that in case of carrier’s insolvency and sudden suspension of the airline operations, the passengers will have to use offer of other carriers. What is more, the market of air services, or to be precise, demand on the routes which were operated by the insolvent carrier,  will remain to be satisfied. Passengers who used these lines, in most cases, will still keep using them. They will choose air services which provide the most convenient way of traveling (on the same or similar line).

Therefore, we call for starting a legislative work, which will obligate European air carriers to provide transportation for the passengers who started journey (those who possess return ticket of airlines which in the meantime stopped operating due to insolvency in EU). Due to specially hard and precarious situation of passengers stranded on the European airports, far away from home, we think that providing this group of passengers with protection and care should be a high-level goal.

Limits on the right to assistance affect stranded passengers in EU airports

The European Commission proposes (ammending Regulation (EC) 261/2004) to limit the right to passengers' assistance by airlines in two situations.
Firstly, if extraordinary circumstance happens, the accommodation for passenger is limited to 3 nights with capping of EUR100 per night. Introduction of the limitation can result in carriers not providing accommodation for passengers. The prices of accommodation/ hotels near airports, without previously making a booking, usually, exceed the limit.  Secondly, obligation to provide accommodation for passengers, if a given flight is 250 km or less and the operating airplane  has maximum capacity of 80 seats or less is to be removed. That deletion lowers the level of consumer protection and discriminates passengers who, for example, travel on a plane with more seats than mentioned above.
We are convinced the outcome of such limits will bring more passengers stranded in EU airports!