Update of EU air passenger rights

The EU Parliament has approved an update to EU air passenger rights. The aim is to protect the existing rights of passengers and prevent a regression in consumer protection. In particular, the right to compensation should continue to apply for delays of just three hours, while the Council had proposed increasing this threshold to four to six hours, depending on the flight route. Parliament also insists that passengers continue to be entitled to reimbursement or re-routing, as well as compensation in the event of cancellations or denied boarding. There is also a final list of exceptional circumstances, such as natural disasters or extreme weather events, in the event of which airlines would be exempt from the obligation to pay compensation. This is intended to create legal certainty and incorporate longstanding case law from the European Court of Justice into the regulation. Other key points include the defense of allowing one personal item and a small piece of hand luggage to be taken along free of charge, transparent baggage rules, protection against additional fees, for example at check-in, and improved rights for particularly vulnerable passengers such as people with disabilities, people with reduced mobility and families with small children. Attention: The voting results shown on the right only reflect the voting behavior of the 96 German MEPs and not that of all 720 MEPs. Parliament's position was adopted overall by 632 votes in favour, 15 against and nine abstentions. Of the German MEPs, 87 voted for it and Engin Eroglu (Renew) voted against it. There were no abstentions.

Vote breakdown