The European Parliament has had the last word on the hard-fought EU air passenger rights reform deal, which its 27 delegates in make-or-break negotiations officially confirmed just hours before a final legal deadline would kick in on Monday evening.
Their unanimous vote concludes 13 years of negotiations, and a successful parliamentary campaign to retain statutory compensation in the event of cancellation or delay exceeding 3 hours. European capitals had sided with airlines in a bid to extend the delay thresholds and reduce some entitlements.
The president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said in a statement that the agreement would “strengthen the rights of air passengers across Europe”.
“Parliament fought hard to make travel fairer and procedures clearer, and this is what we have delivered,” the Maltese lawmaker said.
For Andrey Novakov, the Bulgarian conservative who led the parliamentary negotiating team, the deal was a “a balanced result that we can all be proud of.”
No free luggage
His Green co-negotiator Virginijus Sinkevičius, a former EU environment commissioner, said the parliament had been clear in its aims from day one.
“We wanted to modernise the rules, but we would not let passengers pay the price,” the Lithuanian MEP said in a statement.
The legislative text, to which government delegates acquiesced on Friday, must now receive a formal rubber stamp within eight weeks from ministers in the Council of the EU and a plenary session of the European Parliament.
The main concession MEPs offered during the closing negotiations was to abandon a demand that passengers enjoy the right to a free piece of cabin luggage in addition to the usual small hand bag – although headline ticket prices will now have to include the surcharge.
The European consumer organisation BEUC said that travellers could be “happy overall” with the reform.
Among the “good news” welcomed by the group was a new right for parent to sit next to their children without having to buy an additional seat, and a ban on the practice of cancelling the return ticket for passengers who missed an outbound flight.
Airlines for Europe, a trade association that vocally opposed free cabin baggage appears already to have turned its attention to new lobbying priorities.
“The commitment the Council and European Parliament have shown on passenger rights must now be turned towards managing the transition to net zero and ending Europe’s airspace inefficiencies,” director Ourania Georgoutsakou said.
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