Air passengers’ rights protection in the European Union
The article is devoted to air passengers’ rights protection in the European Union. The legal basis in the EU in this field is European Commission Regulation 261/2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding, flight cancellations, or long delays of flights. It went into effect on 17 February 2005. The author considers all these situations. For example, according to the Regulation, the compensation depends on time of the delay and distance of the flight. Besides it, the reasons of the delay are analyzed: according to the decision of the European Court of Justice, airlines must not pay compensation to passengers in case of exceptional circumstances in the area of sabotage, unrecognized construction defects or terrorist attacks. The connecting flight delay is also taken into consideration in the article, as well as the institutions, where passengers can apply for legal assistance: Federal Office of Civil Aeronautics (in German: Luftfahrt-Bundesamtes - LBA), the German Conciliation Body for Public Transport (in German: Schlichtungsstelle für den öffentlichen Personenverkehr), European Consumer Center. The author also shows the importance of consumer’s rights protection in the system of market economy with relation to the New Institutions Economy.