Parliament wants new standardised EU passenger rights law
Air passengers
(BRUSSELS) - European Parliament lawmakers called Tuesday on the EU executive to legislate to improve passenger rights on transport within Europe.
The Parliament's transport committee said patchwork consumer rights law, different across different jurisdictions and for different modes of transport, were inadequate and needed beefing up.
According to Conservative MEP and rapporteur for lawmaking in this area, Luxembourg's Georges Bach, new helpdesks must be set up in airport and rail station departure and arrivals halls.
"In the case of excessive delays or other inconveniences, the passenger should be able to submit a complaint immediately," he said.
"Existing EU directives have to be revised in order to provide better transparency for the passenger," he said.
Estonian independent MEP Vilja Savisaar-Toomast added that "consumers should not pay for someone else's mismanagement," referring to travel companies' bankruptcy, insolvency or licence withdrawal.
Passenger rights in all transport modes - EU legislative Observatory