In recent years it has become clear that passenger rights offer far too many loopholes and possible interpretations, which are often interpreted to the detriment of passengers. Now the EU Commission wants to tighten things up and, in particular, eliminate the ping-pong game between airlines and intermediaries.

In the future, booking portals and travel agencies will be required to forward travelers' contact details to airlines. Communication regarding delays, cancellations and the like must then take place directly between the airline and the passenger. Currently, it often happens that OTAs in particular replace data such as email addresses and/or cell phone numbers with “fake data” and important information then does not reach the traveler at all or only reaches them with a considerable delay via the intermediary.

In the future, it will also be made clear that passengers have the right to receive any refunds and compensation directly from the airline. It became clear, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, that OTAs and carriers referred to each other and no one felt responsible.

The EU Commission also wants to ensure that contact details may only be used for the purpose of notifying you of travel plan changes and/or for information on how to obtain compensation and/or refunds. If these are misused for advertising purposes, the national authorities could even impose fines.

There should be no change to the seven-day refund period. It is only made clear that if the repayment is made via the intermediary, then it must not take longer than 14 days. However, this assumes that the OTA paid for the ticket to the airline using its own payment method and did not simply pass on the customer's credit card details. In the second case, the seven-day period does not change.

In the future, airlines will also have to have forms available for receiving compensation payments. These can be distributed both on paper and digitally (for example by email). Passengers are not obliged to use these, but the carriers must hand them over, especially at the request of the traveller.

What is also new is that in the future the EU Commission will stipulate that people with limited mobility or other restrictions who are absolutely dependent on an accompanying person will be transported free of charge. This means that the traveler with restrictions needs a ticket, but his or her essential companion must be transported free of charge. This aligns aviation with existing guidelines for rail, bus and ship transport.