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Customer protection in aviation
The development of aviation into a mode of transport used by wide sections of the population requires increased efforts by the aviation industry and authorities to provide for an adequate protection of passengers' rights.
Thus, on 14 February 2002, at the instigation of the European Ministers of Transport and the EU Commission, the majority of airlines and airports in Europe voluntarily adopted a wide range of service obligations which were incorporated into the airlines' general conditions of carriage.
Wide range of service obligations
The commitments include, among other things,
- the early information about delays and flight cancellations,
- the provision of assistance in such cases - such as the supply of refreshments, meals and accommodation - as well as
- the special care to be given to mobility-impaired persons.
Information in this connection can be obtained from the individual airlines and the European umbrella associations:
- Association of European Airlines (AEA),
- European Regions Airline Association (ERA) and
- Airports Council International (ACI).
As concerns mobility-impaired persons, it is planned that their interests with regard to accessibility should be particularly taken into account at airports and by airlines by the inclusion of relevant provisions in the Civil Aviation Act.
Reorganisation of liability and insurance legislation
The above-mentioned voluntary services are supplemented by further legal regulations, such as the reorganisation of liability and insurance legislation as a result of the adoption of the Montreal Convention by the Federal Republic of Germany (Act on the Harmonisation of Liability Legislation in Air Transport of 6 April 2004, Federal Law Gazette I page 550) and the adoption of Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No. 295/91.
This Regulation entered into force on 17 February 2005. It stipulates that passengers who have been the victims of an overbooking, flight cancellation or a long delay will receive concrete damages and care services.
Further information - including complaint forms - can also be retrieved from the Internet pages of the Federal Aviation Office and the European Commission.
