New European Union rules require that hand luggage be included in the price, and children under 14 years of age must be allocated a seat next to their parents at no extra charge, writes “ERR News.”
Kristina Tammaru, Head of the Consumer Rights Department of the Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Supervision Bureau (TTJA), said that these are significant changes that make consumer rights much clearer and eliminate ambiguous situations that have arisen so far.
The issue of child seats has not been legally regulated until now, and everything depended on the policy of the specific airline. Tammaru noted that previously families could be seated randomly, including very young children.
There is also a significant difference in the rules on baggage prices and permitted sizes. Tammaru said that in the future, one personal item, whether a handbag or a backpack, can already be included in the ticket price. She stressed that this should be included in the initial price regardless of whether the ticket is purchased on booking platforms or on the airline’s website. At the same time, airlines will retain the right to set the dimensions of hand luggage, and they will be able to apply an additional fee if the luggage is larger than the specified size.
According to Tammaru,
the most common complaints are related to compensation that passengers can claim in the event of a flight delay or cancellation.
The amount of compensation and the procedure for calculating it will not change. Depending on the distance of the flight, passengers can claim compensation of between 250 and 600 euros. According to the new rules, airlines must send passengers instructions on how to apply for compensation within four days of a cancelled or delayed flight. Tammaru said that this is a change, because until now airlines were not obliged to inform about the possibility of applying for compensation, and it solves the previous problem that two-thirds of passengers were not aware of the compensation they were entitled to.
The new rules require compensation to be paid within 30 days, instead of the previous 90 days.
The changes also affect return tickets. Until now, if a passenger did not show up for their departure, many airlines automatically canceled the return ticket as well. Tammaru said the new law prohibits this from happening.
Although the final text of the regulation has not yet been made public, Tammaru explained that the main changes have already been agreed, but it is not yet known when they will come into force.
Read also: EU: Airlines can’t raise prices after ticket sales or refuse compensation
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