{"id":12215,"date":"2018-07-24T20:52:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T20:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/"},"modified":"2022-09-25T17:35:09","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T17:35:09","slug":"aviation-passenger-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Air Passenger Rights [EU]"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_63 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Liability_of_Carriers_I\" title=\"Liability of Carriers I\">Liability of Carriers I<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Liability_of_Carrier_II\" title=\"Liability of Carrier II\">Liability of Carrier II<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Minimum_Insurance\" title=\"Minimum Insurance\">Minimum Insurance<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Delayed_Denied_Boarding\" title=\"Delayed \/ Denied Boarding\">Delayed \/ Denied Boarding<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Upgrading_and_downgrading\" title=\"Upgrading and downgrading\">Upgrading and downgrading<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/aviation-passenger-rights\/#Reservations_Systems\" title=\"Reservations Systems\">Reservations Systems<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Liability_of_Carriers_I\"><\/span>Liability of Carriers I<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>An EU regulation provides for harmonised obligations for EU air carriers in relation to liability in the event of accidents to passengers.\u00a0 It applies to death, personal injury arising from incidents on board an aircraft or during embarking or disembarking operations.<\/p>\n<p>The liability of the carrier or air transport undertaking for damage caused to a passenger or baggage in the event of an accident cannot be subject to a financial limit provided by law, convention or a contract.\u00a0 The carrier is liable unless it can prove the damage was caused by the negligence of the injured or deceased passenger.\u00a0 Compensation must be paid to the victim.\u00a0 An advance, proportional to the damage sustained, must be paid within 15 days after identification of the victim.<\/p>\n<p>Passengers must be informed of a carrier\\&#8217;s liability in the event of an accident and of his rights, including compensation.\u00a0 The provisions must be included in the conditions of the carriage.<\/p>\n<p>A 2002 Regulation brings EU law into compliance with the Montr\u00e9al Convention.\u00a0 It harmonises liability limits and defences in relation to EU air carriers.\u00a0 The Convention provides unlimited liability for death and personal injury.\u00a0 The obligation to insure requires EU-based carriers to be insured to a level that is adequate to ensure all persons entitled to compensation receive the full amount to which they would be entitled under the regulation.<\/p>\n<p>Carriers must provide passengers with a written indication of<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>the applicable limit for the flight in question on the carrier\\&#8217;s liability in respect of death or personal injury (usually no limit);<\/li>\n<li>the applicable limit for the flight in question of the carrier\\&#8217;s liability when baggage is destroyed, lost or damaged and<\/li>\n<li>the limit for the flight in question of liability occasioned by delay.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Liability_of_Carrier_II\"><\/span>Liability of Carrier II<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The carrier\\&#8217;s liability in relation to passengers and their baggage relates to compensation in the event of death or injury, advance payments, liability for passenger delay and destruction and loss or damage to baggage.<\/p>\n<p>Compensation for death or injury is subject to no limits.\u00a0 The first tier of strict liability is up to 100,000 SDR, and the air carrier may not contest claims for compensation.\u00a0 The second tier of liability is based on presumed fault which may be avoided only by the carrier proving that it was not at fault.<\/p>\n<p>There is provision for advanced payments to cover immediate economic needs within 15 days after the identification of the person concerned.\u00a0 In the case of death, this must be not less than 16,000 SDR.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of passenger delay, unless the air carrier took all reasonable measures, the potential liability is up to 4150 SDR in the event of delay.<\/p>\n<p>In the event of damage, delay or destruction of a baggage a complaint in writing must be made.<\/p>\n<p>Actions for damages must be taken within two years after the arrival of the aircraft or the date on which the aircraft should have arrived.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Minimum_Insurance\"><\/span>Minimum Insurance<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>EU regulation requires air carriers and aircraft operators to maintain minimum insurance.\u00a0 This covers passengers, baggage, cargo and third parties.\u00a0 It applies both to domestic private flights and commercial flights.<\/p>\n<p>The regulation applies to air carriers and aircraft operators flying in, out of or over the EU.\u00a0 It does not apply to military, customs, police and other state aircraft.\u00a0 It does not apply to certain other flying equipment including model aircraft, balloons, kites, parachutes, certain aircraft and microlights used for non-commercial purposes.<\/p>\n<p>The risks required to be covered are specified.\u00a0 Particular aviation type risks such as acts of war, terrorism, hijacking, unlawful seizure which might generally be excluded from a policy are required to be covered.\u00a0 The rules supplement international rules subsisting under other convention.<\/p>\n<p>Aircraft operators and carriers must be in a position to demonstrate compliance with the rules.\u00a0 They must be in a position to produce certificates of insurance to the competent authority.<\/p>\n<p>The minimum liability in respect of passengers is to be 250,000 SDR per passenger.\u00a0 In certain circumstances a lower limit is permissible.\u00a0 In respect of baggage, insurance must be 1,131 SDR per passenger in commercial operations.\u00a0 In relation to cargo, minimum insurance is 19 SDR per kilogram in commercial operations.<\/p>\n<p>The levels of cover are not applicable to flights over EU states carried out by non-EU carriers and operators using aircraft registered outside the EU.<\/p>\n<p>There is minimum insurance cover for liability to third parties.\u00a0 This is determined by reference to the weight of the aircraft.\u00a0 It ranges up to 700 million SDR.<\/p>\n<p>States must ensure compliance by air carriers and air operators.\u00a0 Where the oversights do not involve landing or take-off in the EU, states may require proof of insurance requirements.\u00a0 Sanctions must be effective and dissuasive and proportionate.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Delayed_Denied_Boarding\"><\/span>Delayed \/ Denied Boarding<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A 2004 EU regulation requires common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers who are denied boarding or whose flights are cancelled or subject to significant delay.\u00a0 The rules apply to passengers departing from any airport within the EU or departing from a third country to an EU situate airport.<\/p>\n<p>Passengers must have a confirmed reservation on the flight concerned.\u00a0 Except for a cancellation, they must present themselves to check-in at the time indicated, or if none is indicated, 45 minutes before the departure time.<\/p>\n<p>Where an air carrier expects to deny boarding due to overbooking, it may call for persons to surrender reservations in exchange for a benefit.\u00a0 If they cannot obtain a sufficient number of volunteers, they may deny boarding to passengers involuntarily, but they must compensate them.\u00a0 Priority must be given to persons with reduced mobility and persons who accompany them.<\/p>\n<p>In the event of a flight cancellation or denial of boarding, the passenger has a right to reimbursement of the cost of the ticket within seven days or through a return flight to the first point of departure or re-routing to the final destination.\u00a0 They have a right to care including refreshment, meals, hotel accommodation, transport between hotels, place of accommodation, two free phone calls, telex or fax messages or e-mail.\u00a0 They have a right to compensation totalling \u20ac250 for all flights of less than 1500 km, \u20ac400 for all inter-EU flights of more than 1500km and other flights of 1500 to 3500 km.\u00a0 A sum of \u20ac600 applies to other flights.<\/p>\n<p>In the event of delays of two hours or more depending on the flight distance, passengers must be offered free meals and refreshments plus two free phone calls, telex, fax or e-mail access.\u00a0 If the time of departure is deferred till the next day they must be offered hotel accommodation and transport between the airport and place of accommodation.\u00a0 Where the delay is five hours or longer, they may opt for reimbursement of the ticket cost together, if relevant with a return flight to the first point of departure.<\/p>\n<p>If the carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which he was booked, the passenger must be reimbursed with 30% of the price for flights below 1500 km, 50% between 1500 and 3500 km and 75% in all other cases.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Upgrading_and_downgrading\"><\/span>Upgrading and downgrading<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If an air carrier places a passenger in a class lower than that for which the ticket was purchased, the passenger must be reimbursed within 7 days, as follows:<\/p>\n<p>30 % of the price of the ticket for all flights of 1,500 kilometres or less;<br \/>\n50 % of the price of the ticket for all intra-EU flights of more than 1,500 kilometres, except flights between EU countries and the French overseas departments, and for all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres;<br \/>\n75 % of the price of the ticket for all other flights, including flights between EU countries and the French overseas departments.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reservations_Systems\"><\/span>Reservations Systems<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>An EU regulation provides for a code of conduct for computerised reservation systems used in air transport.\u00a0 It also applies to rail transport products incorporated within the air transport products in certain cases.<\/p>\n<p>A system operator must not impose unfair or discriminatory conditions in contracts with participating carriers or subscribers.\u00a0 It must not prevent a participating carrier from using other reservation systems.<\/p>\n<p>Sellers of systems must apply the same treatment to all carriers in relation to distributing their transport products.\u00a0 It must inform them of changes to their facilities or loading procedures.\u00a0 It must ensure its distribution facilities are clearly separated from the management and marketing or participating carriers.<\/p>\n<p>The Commission may audit system vendors every four years or on request.\u00a0 While it finds there is an infringement it may require steps to terminate the infringement.<\/p>\n<!--themify_builder_content-->\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-12215\" data-postid=\"12215\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-12215 themify_builder tf_clear\">\n    <\/div>\n<!--\/themify_builder_content-->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Liability of Carriers I An EU regulation provides for harmonised obligations for EU air carriers in relation to liability in the event of accidents to passengers.\u00a0 It applies to death, personal injury arising from incidents on board an aircraft or during embarking or disembarking operations. The liability of the carrier or air transport undertaking for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[233,127],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12215"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18706,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12215\/revisions\/18706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legalblog.ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}