The aim of the European Commission, formulated in its White Paper: "European transport policy for 2010: time to decide", is to focus European transport policy more on passenger needs and demand. The Commission therefore adopted common air passenger rights in February 2005. Furthermore they developed a proposal for a regulation on International Rail Passenger Rights and Obligations. It is important to evaluate if the European Union should develop a common policy in order to protect passenger needs and service quality better.
The study therefore examines to what extent European transport operators already offer voluntary agreements and compensation to their passengers e.g. in case of delay, missed connections or overbooked flights. To answer this question, the study will give an overview of the standards existing and analyse them comparatively. What are standards in complaints handling, voluntary agreements and service guarantees currently offered to passengers by all means of public transport within the European Member States?
The first phase will list service guarantees offered by railway companies, bus operators, shipping companies and airlines. Second, this study aims to evaluate qualitatively how operators deal with complaints and guarantees and to which extent passengers and consumer groups are satisfied with the operators´ initiatives. In addition a conformity check with existing EU-legislation is necessary.
