easyJet

has called for all EU airlines to submit audited, verifiable data to the European Commission to allow air travellers to make decisions based on airlineså’ service standards.

The European Parliament votes today on compensation levels in the event of denied boarding, cancellations or delays. easyJet believes firmly that historical information on these criteria should be made available to consumers from a single source of audited service quality information.

easyJet was the first major European airline to publish its punctuality data on its website and has subsequently been followed by a number of other airlines, including the Association of European Airlines.

However, the fact that this information is unaudited and is published in a number of different formats from a variety of sources makes comparisons meaningless and, in fact, encourages deliberately scurrilous and misleading statements.

As a result, easyJet is today calling for airlines to contribute audit, verifiable data to a single source. This should be limited to four principal factors which are of interest to consumers - flight delays, flight cancellations, denied boarding’s and lost baggage. In the absence of an EU-wide consumer body, such as the equivalent of the UK Air Transport Users Council, it should be the responsibility of the European Commission’s Transport Directorate to set the standards and audit the results.

The template for this is the US Department of Transportation which collates, verifies and publishes a comprehensive range of data on US airlines.

easyJet supports the principle of what the EU are trying to achieve, introducing measures to make life easier for the travelling public, but the devil is in the detail.

easyJet agree with the proposed US style league tables, and that passengers should be protected from overbooked flights, or those disrupted for commercially motivated reasons. easyJet also agree that passengers should be entitled to full refunds for cancelled flights, however we are concerned about the additional 250euros compensation for cancelled or delayed services. This is more than 450% higher than easyJet’s lowest fare, which is an unreasonable charge. easyJet calls for the compensation to be a percentage of the fare paid, and that airlines should not be liable in circumstances out of their control.

To make a fair playing field, these rules should also apply to the other forms of transport with which easyJet compete`s - trains, ferries and eurostar.

 

Ray Webster

, easyJet Chief Executive, said:

“Customers have a right to know the relative performance of each airline. But, as some airlines deliberately distort other airlines’ numbers and publish their own unverifiable data, the best solution is for the European Commission to set the criteria and publish monthly, verifiable customer service data. 

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