The verdict is devastating: Airlines disregarded consumer rights during Corona.
It is particularly angry that government aid flowed while the customers were in some cases deprived of their money.
Brussels - stranded travelers, an unprecedented crisis in tourism, the number of passengers on the ground: Before the corona pandemic broke the necks of many airlines, the airlines broke the rights of their customers en masse.
That is what a report by the European Court of Auditors suggests. In a report published on Tuesday, the auditors criticize that travelers were illegally forced to accept vouchers instead of repayments on canceled flights. Around 7,000 connections were canceled, and millions of travelers were affected between March 2020 and March 2021.
"Whilst every effort has been made to help airlines and package tour operators, far too little has been done to protect the rights of millions of people in the EU," criticized Annemie Turtelboom, Member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report . The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry emphasized in a message that it was in an "absolutely special situation". If you compare April 2019 with the following year, the number of passengers fell by 99 percent and the number of flights by 88 percent. Correspondingly, the companies found themselves in dire straits.
In its communication, the association also blames the federal government for the breach of law. The latter took the view that vouchers instead of reimbursements were permissible due to the pandemic. The association does not write in its announcement how its own lawyers had assessed the situation. Only after the EU Commission objected, tickets were also reimbursed on request, whereby there were also long deadlines. According to the Court of Auditors, the law actually stipulates that this must happen within seven to fourteen days.
The EU auditors stress that in the first few months of the crisis, many passengers lost money that they were entitled to. 15 EU states - including the Netherlands, France and Belgium - even helped by enacting EU-unlawful regulations or taking other measures that were supposed to legitimize the practice of vouchers instead of reimbursements.
In some cases, these vouchers were not even secured against company bankruptcy. While consumers had to fight for their money for a long time, the airlines were helped at record speed: 54 decisions on state aid were adopted within an average of 13 days after registration; 23 of them within a week, according to the Court of Auditors. In the period from March 2020 to April of this year, public funds amounting to around 35 billion were raised - six billion of which went to Lufthansa.
At the same time, reimbursements were not expressly made a condition of the aid, although the Commission made it clear that the States could do so.
The Brussels authority is also protected in the report, as it has only few competencies in the area of air passenger rights.
The EU Commission had already increased the pressure on the airlines on Monday and presented a catalog of demands: Among other things, the airlines are requested not to advertise refunds in the form of a voucher as the only option and to avoid delays in repayment.
In addition, new rules are being considered with a view to coming crises, said Transport Commissioner Adina Valean.
With the restart of air traffic, the old problems had already reappeared, reports the flight rights portal Airhelp. According to our own data analysis, 12.6 percent of passengers were again affected by delays and cancellations in May. That is significantly less than in 2019 with a share of 28 percent. “Appearances are deceptive, however, as the airlines are currently only using a fifth of their actual capacities. We therefore expect the flight problems to increase the closer we get to normal operations, ”commented Airhelp legal expert Christian Leininger. The airlines themselves are responsible for around half of the serious problems. dpa