Overview
- Negotiators from the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission entered final trilogue talks that continued into Wednesday after overnight progress did not produce a deal and they are aiming for a compromise by June 15.
- The European Commission’s draft would reduce flat compensation for delays over three hours from €250/€400/€600 to about €83/€133/€200, a cut that consumer groups warn would leave many passengers with smaller payouts.
- The plan would cap reimbursement for replacement transport at four times the original ticket price and allow airlines to offer alternatives that are not the fastest or fully equivalent, with passengers required to opt in and possibly wait up to three hours for re-routing.
- The draft treats staff strikes and crew shortages as extraordinary circumstances that would relieve airlines of compensation payments, a move that unions say would remove a key bargaining tool and that Parliament strongly opposes.
- Member states and industry are divided over raising the delay threshold to four or even six hours and over the level of payout cuts, and if no deal is reached by June 15 the current 2004 rules would remain in force.