The right to cash compensation for disrupted travellers for sums totalling more than £500 no longer exists in particular circumstances for British passengers following Brexit
British airline passengers will lose out in millions of pounds in compensation each year thanks to a post-Brexit rule change, it has been reported.
The right to cash compensation of over £500 for disrupted travels no longer exists in particular circumstances. If you are making a journey to the UK from non-EU countries on airlines such as Air France, KLM and Lufthansa the right to automatic compensation is gone.
Passengers heading to the UK used to be able to recover expenses from a European Union carrier as well as £513 in compensation if the airline is at fault for the delay, the Independent reports.
For 17 years the European air passengers’ rights regulation, known as EC261, was in force, benefitting huge numbers of British customers. Because the UK government opted for a hard-Brexit following the Referendum, rights of British travellers have been weakened.
Now, trips from non-EU locations to British airports via European hubs such as Amsterdam and Frankfurtare excluded from compensation and care rights. However, if you are flying back to the UK with no stop in an EU country along the way, the rights remain the same.
Have you been impact by the rule change? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
Equally, all rights are the same for flights from the UK, even if there is a stop in an EU airport on the way to the final destination.
The financial impact could still be significant. Four million passengers fly from non-EU countries to the UK via EU airports each year. Even if a small number of these are delayed or face cancellations, the amount of lost compensation payments is huge.
Paul Charles, chief executive of the travel consultancy The PC Agency, told the Indepdent: “It’s pretty clear that travellers from a ‘third country’ like the UK are now being treated as third-class citizens. This is another example where we’re worse off after Brexit, having zero rights and in a poorer position than before the separation from the EU.
“Consumers will be scratching their heads trying to work out when they’re due compensation or refunds, and when they’re not. The government should bring more clarity to travel and seek a change in this particular transit travel ruling, so that rights can be safeguarded and care provided in the event of delay or cancellation.”
The change follows a legal case involving a traveller who was flying from Chişinău in Moldova to Bangkok via Vienna on Austrian Airlines. After the first leg was cancelled the passenger applied for compensation, only for a court to rule that the EU regulation does not apply to a connecting journey on a single booking operated by an EU air carrier in certain cases.
That is, “if both the departure airport of the first flight and the arrival airport of the second flight are in the territory of a third country and only the airport where the stopover takes place is in the territory of a member state”.
The UK government vowed “to improve the consumer rights of air passengers” in its publication the Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU.
The document says: “We will reposition the UK’s approach to air passenger consumer rights, improving consumer confidence and developing trust in booking travel by consulting on additional, flexible and modern tools to enforce consumer rights.”
The Department of Transport has been contacted for comment.