The European Commission has proposed new measures to strengthen air passenger rights

 

The proposed changes to passenger rights are following:

1. The carrier must inform passengers of the situation as soon as possible and in any event no later than 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time. They must inform passengers of the estimated departure time as soon as this information is available.
2. Every passenger has the right to care (something to eat and drink) after 2 hours instead of four. If passengers are actually stuck on the plane, these rights to care still apply. Passengers must be  transferred to the terminal after 5 hours.
3. If the carrier is not able to re-route passengers themselves within 12 hours, then it must find another airline, put passengers on the train or another mode of transport.
4. Airlines will introduce clear complaint-handling procedures (web form, e-mail address). They will also have to reply to passengers within given deadlines (one week for the acknowledgement of receipt and a formal reply within a deadline of two months).

 

More information: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-13-219_en.htm

FAQs: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-203_en.htm