Air Travel Rules: How the European Regulation Is Set to Change?

Since the start of the year, more than 1,400 complaints have been filed regarding problems with air travel. Issues range from varying hand luggage allowances between airlines to the lack of uniform rules for compensation in case of flight delays.

The latest example came yesterday, November 17, when flights in Sofia were cancelled or diverted due to strong winds.

For passenger Nikolay Daskalov, travelling from the United States to Bulgaria turned into a three-day ordeal. His plane was due to land in Sofia but had to return to Germany because of the strong winds.

"In Greece, we waited three hours to refuel, and instead of being diverted to Varna, we were sent back to Hamburg. Yesterday I missed a flight and had to pay again for Sofia–Varna, and now I’ve had to pay for another flight," Daskalov said.

When asked whether he would seek compensation, he replied: “I will, but they won’t pay anything.”

He may be right, as the disruption falls under force majeure. European rules governing flight compensation have not been updated in 20 years.

A current debate concerns modernising these rules. One contentious issue is the delay threshold for compensation. Until now, passengers were entitled to compensation for delays of three hours or more, but this may change — likely to the detriment of passengers.

"Two thresholds are being proposed for flights over and under 3,500 km, with delays of over four and six hours respectively. The idea is to balance passenger rights with the economic realities for carriers," said Elisaveta Dimitrova from the Civil Aviation Administration.

According to a study by a European flight-monitoring company, 60% of delays caused by airlines fall between three and four hours.

"This means that 60% of passengers who could currently claim compensation will no longer have that right," said Yoana Stoyanova of the European Consumers Organisation, Active Consumers Association.

"Almost one in five complaints we receive concerns a flight issue," added Sonya Spasova, director of the European Consumer Centre.

When the European regulation was first introduced in 2004, flight distances over Europe averaged 3,500 km; today, they exceed 8,000 km.

Additionally, due to the war in Ukraine, European airspace is nearly half, making it difficult to react within the current compensation timeframes, particularly if a replacement plane is at a different airport.

"I can give you an example — at one airport, a standby plane is ready, but another flight cannot depart due to a technical issue. Even though the planes are next to each other, unloading, document changes, and handling took three hours and a few minutes. It’s not just a matter of the plane arriving and picking up passengers — there’s unloading, baggage handling, and all the operational processes. It’s a long procedure; it doesn’t happen with a magic wand. As a small Bulgarian airline, our difficulties are compounded by the fact that we receive the last slots and are dependent on the work of airport operators," said Rumyana Rangelova, legal counsel for a Bulgarian airline.

One of the proposed changes under discussion is to standardise hand luggage allowances across all airlines departing from the European Union.

Consumer organisations are also proposing that staff strikes be excluded from the list of extraordinary circumstances that exempt airlines from paying compensation for delayed or cancelled flights.