Co-legislators from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU paused negotiations on the air passenger rights reform on Wednesday morning without reaching a deal, but agreed to resume talks in the afternoon.
Negotiations ended at 5 a.m. after 16 hours of inconclusive discussions on several parts of the reform, including the delay threshold granting the right to compensation and the level of compensation passengers would receive.
Council and Parliament tried unsuccessfully to agree on a flat compensation amount, regardless of flight distance. But the idea failed to convince many countries, while MEPs pushed to raise the amount to €350 and include an inflation-adjustment mechanism, making the proposal even less attractive to governments already skeptical of higher compensation costs.
Besides compensation, co-legislators must also decide on the introduction of pre-completed forms that airlines could be required to send passengers in the event of delays and/or cancellations.
The forms, intended to make it easier to claim compensation, are expected to increase costs for airlines, given that currently only around half of eligible passengers submit claims.
Co-legislators could provisionally agree to require airlines to include a carry-on bag in the basic airfare, in addition to the personal item stored under the seat. Passengers would then be allowed to opt out of the second bag in return for a discount.
Talks on the reform — being conducted through trilogues and the conciliation procedure — were set to resume on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
Source: Politico
