Members of the European Parliament want passengers to continue to bring their hand luggage free of charge. This concerns one personal item that fits under the seat and one small trolley with a maximum weight of seven kilos. According to them, hand luggage is part of the basic rights of every traveler.
The threshold for compensation for delays remains three hours. This is the starting point for the MEPs, who have decisively rejected proposals to increase the period to four or six hours. They believe delays should lead to compensation more quickly.
The amount of compensation varies from three hundred to six hundred euros, depending on the distance of the flight. This compensation applies not only to delays but also to canceled flights or when passengers are denied boarding for any reason.
The European Commission and the Transport Ministers are completely opposed to this. They advocate for wider margins, with compensation only after four or even six hours. This has led to a serious institutional conflict within the EU as the rules for passenger rights are being revised.
The Parliament also wants additional fees to disappear. Passengers must be able to correct minor spelling mistakes in their names free of charge, children under fourteen must be able to sit next to their parents for free, and travelers should be allowed to choose between paper or digital boarding passes.
The revision of legislation on passenger rights has been long overdue. The file was stalled for over ten years due to disagreements among EU countries, but the MEPs now want to complete it to strengthen the position of consumers.
Parliament, Commission, and the ministers will have three months to reach a compromise. The outcome must produce a single joint EU position on the new rules.
The airlines responded sharply negatively. Their umbrella organization Airlines4Europe calls the three-hour rule "arbitrary" and "unrealistic." According to them, more time is needed to deploy reserve aircraft or crews and a five-hour limit would help prevent delays.
The MEPs refer specifically to rulings by the European Court of Justice, which classified hand luggage as an essential part of air transport. Because of this, the free carriage of hand luggage must, according to them, be guaranteed throughout the Union.