During the February plenary session in Strasbourg, the European Parliament has adopted, in the first reading, the amendment of the air passenger rights regulation. The amendment was proposed by the EC in March 2013 and aims at clarifying certain grey areas of the current legislation, thus strengthening passenger rights and their effective enforcement. For example, the airline will have to confirm reception of a passenger complaint within one week, and deal with it in 2 months, otherwise it will be regarded as accepted. In case of cancellation of the flight, the passengers will have to be informed within 30 minutes after the scheduled departure time. Onboard luggage will include a coat, handbag and airport shopping bag and check-in baggage allowances will need to be made clear from the early stages of the booking process. Also, enforcements powers of national and EU authorities will be strengthened. If a flight is delayed for more than 2 hours, the passengers will obtain right to care irrespective of the distance of their booked flight. The proposal will be voted on by the Member States on the June Transports Council.

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