Perhaps the most interesting, and worrying, travel story of the week seems to have escaped much coverage. EU transport ministers have backed new proposals on compensation payments by airlines to passengers who are bumped off overbooked flights or hit by delays and cancellations. The new rules will apply to both scheduled and non-scheduled flights and might well come in next year.
Breaches will cost airlines ”400 (E600) per passenger on long haul flights and ”175 (E250) on shorter trips. There is no differentiation between a traveller who has grabbed a bargain fare and one travelling first or business class. This is all somewhat rich coming from an organisation that allegedly allows its staff to claim the scheduled full fare on travel and actually fly on whatever carrier it likes. No receipts necessary.
We will not comment on the question of compensation on overbooking except to say that the present arrangement seems to work. However the idea of fining carriers for lateness is plain daft!
What the Commission has failed to recognised is the shear complexity of air travel. A delayed flight costs an airline as soon as it is late. The knock-on effects can be tremendous. No airline wants a delay, it is just not in its interest. The idea of penalties is a double whammy, the airline punished twice for the same so-called offence. Before readers jump in with their own catalogue of causes of delay ABTN would like to start the inventory. Clearly the first reason is a late arriving aircraft. Is the carrier to be fined twice (and for that matter on every sector during that particular day)?. Is the reason for the delay, air traffic congestion, ground manoeuvring overcrowding, Airbridge problems, transfer bus waiting, refuelling difficulties, problems in getting the luggage on and off, lack of catering, no-show passengers and the items they have placed in the hold, technical and security difficulties within the terminal, serious bad weather. The list can go on and on. Suppose that rapid transport system used by many airports breaks down and causes a delay. Why not fine the airport?
One assumes that in the most part delays will go to arbitration. Who pays for that. More management time by the airlines away from their true objective in running a safe and profitable airline. The current compensation regarding overbooking works. This latest idea by the EU is just about the daftest since they decided to operate a Parliament in two buildings. In a free enterprise society people vote with their feet. By all means publish and publicise a league table of punctuality and make it easily available on the web for all to see. But why should an airline (and in the end a passenger) pay for a problem that it did not want in the first place and has already caused damage, financial included. Or is the EU mad?