In 2004, Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament was published, which protects Passenger rights for air travel. This regulation protects passengers in the event of overbooking, flight delays, or cancellations, and generally includes the following:
The European Union's regulations on passenger rights protection are among the most comprehensive in the world.
The Community's action in the field of air transport shall aim, among other things, ensure a high level of passenger protection. Furthermore, consumer protection requirements must be fully taken into account.
(2) Denied boarding, flight cancellations or significant flight delays cause serious disruption and inconvenience to passengers.
(…)
(4) Therefore, the Community must strengthen the common minimum protection standards established by that Regulation with the aim of consolidating passengers' rights and, at the same time, ensuring that air carriers carry out their activities in harmonised conditions in a liberalised market.
Given that the distinction between scheduled and non-scheduled air services tends to blur, the protection scheme must apply not only to passengers on scheduled flights but also to those on non-scheduled flights, including those forming part of package holidays.
The protection afforded to passengers departing from an airport situated in a Member State shall be extended to passengers departing from an airport situated in a third country and destined for an airport situated in a Member State, where the carrier performing the flight is a Community air carrier.
(…)
The compensation The main ones would be the following (although, in certain cases, they can be reduced by 50%):
- £250 for flights of up to 1500 kilometres.
- b) 400 euros for all intra-Community flights of more than 1,500 kilometres and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres.
- c) 600 euros for all flights not covered by a) or b).
In summary, this regulation applies to any flight operation, whether scheduled or charter, to any airline departing from an airport situated in a Member State, and applies to passengers departing from a third country and heading to an airport situated in a Member State, but only if the flight is operated by a Community carrier.
Therefore, in the case of intra-Community flights, there is no differentiation between airlines. However, if we are going to travel outside the European Union, it is important to know the nationality of the airline, as The compensation will vary.. Let's use an example to understand it better.
A family decides to travel from Paris to Bangkok on a non-stop flight. On the outbound flight, regardless of the nationality of the airline operating the flight, passengers are protected by Regulation 261/2004. However, on the return flight, from Bangkok to Paris, passengers would only be protected by the European regulation if the airline belongs to one of the member states.
And what happens if the airline is not based in a Member State? The corresponding regulations for the country of origin, which is usually less strict than in the European Union, or, on many occasions, almost non-existent.
Therefore, the next time you buy an airline ticket, keep these aspects in mind if your flight is to an airport located outside the European Union.
