WORLD TOURISM DAY: EU Flight Cases 2023
Last year, air travellers were confronted with chaos at several airports in Europe, delays, and cancelled flights. In 2023 to date, there were even more flight disruptions in the European Union than in 2022. The main causes for these disruptions were understaffing, strikes and technical problems, such as an issue with the automatic flight planning system at an air traffic control centre in the UK last August. So, the number of both flight delays and cancellations increased significantly this year, and challenges persist within the travel and tourism sector.
Responding to flight cases
The European Consumer Centres Network (ECC-Net) steps in with free assistance for cross-border consumer issues. In 2023, we responded to 30.345 cases (30%) in the travel and tourism sector. Over 50% of these cases concerned international flights. In addition, the number of users who visited our page ‘Flight Delays’ on the ECC Net website increased by 843% compared to 2022, followed by an increase of 200% in the number of visits to our ‘Flight Cancellation’ page.
Sharing concerns about airline insolvencies
Apart from flight disruptions, air passengers have had to deal with the consequences of airlines declaring bankruptcy in the recent years. Because air passengers are often not protected against insolvencies, they may not be able to return to their home without having to buy expensive tickets for a flight with another airline. Moreover, it is often not possible to get a refund for the tickets they bought. Therefore, together with BEUC, the ECC-Net and partners in the travel industry shared their concerns with the European Commission in a joint call to stress the need for a better protection of air passengers in case of insolvencies.
Informing air passengers
As the ECC-Net still receives a large share of enquiries and complaints about air passenger rights, we keep informing consumers about their rights when travelling by plane, providing them with free legal advice, and helping them to solve disputes relating to travelling by plane in the EU. We also keep monitoring these cases, so we can improve the information we provide and identify possible gaps in the existing legislation.