EU Petition (sign the petition here)
Under Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), citizens have the right to move freely within the EU, however, this does not give airlines or airports the right to infringe on our consumer rights. It is not always possible to reach your destination by car or bus and often the most convenient method of reaching your destination is by using commercial airlines. In many cases, our consumer rights are infringed by airlines and airports, and we often to not have any right of recourse. Many airports and airlines have placed the blame for this on COVID, but these problems existed long before the COVID pandemic.
If like us, you have travelled on any airlines, even budget airlines, we are sure you have experienced at least one of the following:
- Long delays of flights (more than 1 hour)
- Making you wait (standing) on stairwells, corridors, jet bridges and even outside (regardless of the weather)
- Disrespectful behaviour from airline or check-in and gate staff
- Dirty cabins
- Dirty seats
- Broken seats
We have started this petition to ensure that citizens maintain their rights and dignity to be treated fairly and humanely when using these airports and airlines and to ensure that they uphold the laws. We demand that new laws are put in place to formally outline the responsibilities of the airlines and airports, and the rights of passengers.
There are EU laws that regulate this, but it is not strict enough, to give you an example, a regular flight from London Gatwick airport to Larnaca, had between 2 and 5 hour delays every day for over a week. With COVID measures, this could mean a person could spend 5 to 8 hours at the airport before their flight, at times spending hours in the plane waiting, ironically, that is more than the actual flight time.
We understand that there can always be a justifiable reason for a flight delay, but when the same flights have the same delays every single day, then this is not a justified reason.
Our Demands:
- All airlines need to stick to their schedules and any unjustified delay more than 30 minutes, should be punishable by fines, penalties, compensations and partial or full refunds to passengers. A review of the Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 which is outdated.
- When online check-in is available or permitted, the passenger should be able to use the PDF file generated as a boarding pass on their phones or mobile devices rather than having to print them (Green Deal).
- There should be at least 1 dedicated baggage drop off counter at airports for all flights which offer online check-in.
- Waiting to board the plane after you have checked in at the gate cannot be longer than 10 minutes and should be included in the rights of passengers for claim.
- Waiting on stairwells, corridors, jet bridges and even outside, after check in should not be allowed, once checked in at the desk there should be a steady flow of passengers entering the plane.
- Staff (airlines, airport and security) may be reported for disrespectful behaviour to passengers, and each incident should be properly investigated.
- Rude and uncalled for behaviour from passengers, should also not be acceptable.
- The cabin, seats and toilets must be clean on entering all planes.
- Broken or damaged seats may not be given to passengers.
- Strikes are not a justifiable cause for delays, as these are caused as a direct result of staff conflicts with their employers, and not a problem the passenger should suffer for.
- Losing their departure queue due to delays, is not a justifiable reason for additional delays, if they stuck to their promised schedule, there would be no reason for losing their queue.
- Charging a fee so that family members or persons who purchased flights together, can sit together should be illegal.
- “Acts of God” and accidents can be considered justifiable reasons for delays, but in these cases, passengers should be fully informed of the reasons and the delay that will be caused, and should be provided with a comfortable area to wait.
- If airlines charge for or offer a cabin bags option, they must ensure that there is enough space in the overhead lockers for these bags.
- Emergency exit seats may not be sold as extra leg room seats, as people sitting there need to be competent enough to deal with an emergency should it arise.
- In the event of long justifiable delays, more than 2 hours, known prior to the scheduled flights, passengers should be informed and the check in times should be adjusted accordingly.
- Based on Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, airlines or airports having delays more than 2 hours, should offer refreshments to passengers and not coupons for €2.50 which often cannot even buy a bottle of water. If refreshments are offered, they should take passenger allergies and dietary needs into account. (Offering a chocolate to a diabetic for example).
- For delays over 1 hour, airlines or airports should compensate passengers for any additional costs incurred as a result of these delays, additional transport costs from destination country, parking costs for family of friends waiting at airports etc.
- All charges should be visible to the passenger at the time of buying flight tickets, obligatory charges after the purchase of a flight tickets should not be allowed.
We are not asking for anything more than for our consumer rights to be respected and for us to be treated fairly and justly as consumers. Many airports and airlines have used the lay off of staff as a result of the COVID pandemic as justification for delays, but for many flights these delays were happening long before the COVID pandemic even started. It is not the responsibility of the passenger to ensure the airport or airline has staff, if they are understaffed, they should remedy their staff shortages or not offer the service which they cannot deliver on.