We are extremely disappointed with the negotiation position put forward by EU countries, which completely dilutes the Commission’s proposals on improving passenger rights during air travel and in multimodal transport.
Our latest information suggests that the EU Council’s negotiating position (called the “General Approach”) will remove the minor improvements proposed by the European Commission regarding the rights of passengers with disabilities.
EDF had already warned that the Commission’s proposal failed to meet the demands of the European disability movement and that flying as a person with disabilities was a horrific experience.
EU Member States’ decision to completely undermine the few improvements that existed for persons with disabilities will perpetuate the experiences of living a “waking nightmare” when they travel by air.
Notably, the Council wants to:
- Remove the Commission’s provision mandating airlines to allow an accompanying person to travel free of charge in cases where the airline forces persons with disabilities to travel accompanied. The Council wants the accompanying person to still pay airport taxes and charges.
- Completely erase carriers’ and terminal operators’ obligations to transparently report on complaints received and assistance provided to passengers with reduced mobility and disabilities.
- Completely erase the Commission’s provisions that would allow National Enforcement Bodies to proactively monitor carriers and terminal managers’ compliance with passenger rights provisions.
We call on Member States to reverse course as soon as possible and adopt a General Approach in the Council that actually upholds the rights of their citizens with disabilities and fulfils their obligations towards the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Gunta Anca, the European Disability Forum’s Vice-President, said:
It’s completely unacceptable that the Council plans to turn back on even the minor improvements of the proposal. If the national governments knew how difficult it is for persons with disabilities like me to travel, they would be racing to improve the Commission proposal, not undermining it.
Related documents
- Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EC) No 261/2004, (EC) No 1107/2006, (EU) No 1177/2010, (EU) No 181/2011 and (EU) 2021/782 as regards enforcement of passenger rights in the Union
- Report: “End the nightmare: Passengers with disabilities deserve to travel by air”
- Passengers with disabilities “grounded” by proposed Passenger Rights Package
Contacts
André Félix
Communications Coordinator
Daniel Casas
Accessibility Officer
The European Disability Forum is an umbrella organisation of persons with disabilities that defends the interests of 100 million Europeans with disabilities. EDF is a unique platform that brings together representative organisations of persons with disabilities across Europe. It is run by persons with disabilities and their families. EDF is a strong, united voice of persons with disabilities in Europe
Additional information
Accompanying person
The Commission introduced a provision for an accompanying person to travel free of charge in air transport (only when imposed by the carrier), but the Council of the EU is proposing that the carrier covers the airfare but requires the passenger to cover airport charges and other charges. This development is extremely worrying since the charges represent a big part of the final ticket price. For example, if a flight from Paris to Stockholm costs 291 EUR, 121 EUR are taxes and fees that should be paid by the passenger if requested to travel with an accompanying person.
This provision is not a new right for the passenger, it would apply to those specific situations where the carrier considers unilaterally, and based on their non-transparent understanding of safety, that the passenger cannot travel alone.
Data on PRM complaints and assistance
The Commission introduced a new obligation for carriers (to gather and publish) and terminal operators (to gather) information on the complaints received and assistance provided to persons with reduced mobility (PRM), but the Council has proposed to erase such transparency obligation. This means that we will continue without any data on cases of denied boarding, transport of assistance dogs, damage to mobility equipment, imposition of accompanying person and so on.The Commission’s proposed provision is not new; the US already has similar obligations in place, and the data has been a valuable source of information for policymakers.
Enforcement
To improve enforcement of existing rights, the Commission proposed a set of actions so that National Enforcement Bodies (NEBs) proactively monitor compliance by carriers and terminal managers (including through unannounced audits, inspections and interviews). Again, the Council has decided to eliminate such requirement.
Relying only on passengers complaints to monitor compliance on PRM matters is not enough as not all PRMs know about their rights, the way to submit complaints, the complaint mechanism is not accessible and have no incentive to complain (even if they are right, the only way to find personal redress is through courts).