Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-12-17-Speech-3-197"
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"en.20031217.7.3-197"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank the Conciliation Committee and Mr Lisi for the agreement that we reached.
This regulation will, I hope, encourage airlines and travel companies to curtail their normal practices. I also welcome the reference that the regulation makes to sanctions, which have to be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. In this respect, air passengers should receive compensation, an alternative flight, and assistance appropriate to the inconvenience suffered, and they should be offered these things as quickly as possible, which is not always the case at present. The extension of air passengers’ rights to include all types of flight is a welcome innovation. Thus passengers on scheduled flights, which represent only half of the market, and those on non-scheduled flights, particularly on package tours, will be able to assert their rights in the same way.
As the Commission Stated in its White Paper, ‘European transport policy for 2010: time to decide’, its objective is to refocus that policy on the basis of citizens’ demands and needs. We are counting on that. The inconvenience resulting from denied boarding, namely stress, fatigue and humiliation, can have serious consequences for the people affected. They may lose business, be prevented from attending funerals and so on. Members of this Parliament who frequently have to use air transport in order to travel between Brussels, Strasbourg and their own regions are particularly aware of such inconvenience and of the resulting loss of time.
Furthermore, as Vice-Chairman of the ‘Handicap’ Intergroup, I am glad that Article 11 refers to giving priority treatment to persons with reduced mobility. However, the list could have been extended to cover people travelling with young children.
As for the exemptions in the case of strikes, the required periods of notice should make it possible for airlines to react in good time and to remain subject to the constraints of this regulation. I also welcome the provision concerning the obligation to inform passengers concerning their rights, by means of a notice in easily legible characters displayed in the check-in area, giving special attention – more explicit than that laid down in the regulation – to providing information, by appropriate means, for blind or partially sighted persons. Such passenger-protection schemes should be extended to cover other modes of transport.
Finally, it would appear fundamentally necessary for airlines to seek to ensure, in advance, that they offer a high-quality service to their passengers, so that the latter no longer have to suffer any inconvenience. I hope that the Members of this House will support this agreement, which seeks to respect the rights of passengers so that the practices in question occur as rarely as possible."@en1
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