Cynthia Ní Mhurchú

Cynthia Ní Mhurchú, a Fianna Fáil MEP for Ireland South, has been appointed by the Renew Europe political grouping in the European Parliament as its chief negotiator on the proposed new law.

The European Commission last year proposed revisions to the Passengers Rights Regulation and 2015 Package Travel Directive which would bring improvements to strengthen enforcement mechanisms and improve rules for reimbursement for air passengers.

The proposed changes will give passengers more rights when booking flights through an intermediary, when booking a package holiday and for those travelling with a disability.

Ms Ní Mhurchú said: “During the pandemic, consumers faced mass cancellations and often struggled to get refunds from tour operators and travel agencies for cancelled packages.

“These new proposed laws will look to add protections for travellers with a disability, those booking package holidays and those booking flights through an intermediately service 

“We will formulate new rules to protect passengers using different types of transport, like buses, trains, and planes, all in one trip, including on minimum connecting times between different transport services.”

She said the European Parliament learned a lot from the collapse of British tour operator Thomas Cook in 2019, which declared bankruptcy on a Sunday evening, leaving hundreds of thousands of Irish and British travellers stranded and putting 21,000 jobs at risk. The new laws will look to bolster insolvency protection.

Other new measures for package holiday bookings include that upfront deposits paid on package holidays cannot be more than 25 per cent of the overall package price, except in cases where a package tour operator can justify a higher deposit based on extenuating circumstances. 

Under the proposals, package holiday operators may not ask for the total payment for the holiday earlier than 28 days before the start of the trip. Those travelling under a package holiday will also receive clearer information on who is liable if there are problems with a cancellation of one part of the package, and their rights in that situation. 

Meanwhile, the right of disabled passengers to bring a companion free of charge will be extended from rail, ship or bus travel to include air travel.

All travel providers will also be obliged to publish information which will make travel easier for passengers, such as whether bikes can be taken onto a train, and whether the mode of transport is accessible or not.