Policy

Passenger rights

Europe has experienced a boom in mobility over the last decades. To protect citizens and to ensure they are not lost in national rules, the EU has adopted community legislation covering passenger rights – across all transport modes.

Did something go wrong with your trip? Have you experienced delays and cancellations? Do you have special mobility needs? As an air, rail, ship or bus passenger, you have rights when travelling in the European Union.

EU passenger rights are adapted to each means of transport, but in essence, the rights that apply to all types of transport are comparable. They are based on three key principles: non-discrimination; accurate, timely and accessible information; immediate and proportionate assistance. These principles are the foundation for ten basic rights that form the core of EU passenger rights policy.

A very useful Passenger Rights smart phone application available in 22 languages, helps travellers easily access their rights while on the move – the best way to have Your Passenger Rights at Hand!
A Eurobarometer survey (2024) found that 73% of EU citizens used at least one mode of transport over the past 12 months, most often local urban transport (52%), followed by rail (33%), air (23%), coach (14%), and ship or ferry services (8%). Awareness of passenger rights remains limited: 33% of respondents are aware of their rights when travelling by rail, 30% by air, 27% by coach, and 16% by ship or ferry. Nearly half of rail passengers (47%) and three in ten air passengers (30%) experienced at least one disruption to their journey during the past year, most commonly departure delays.

Apostolos Tzitzikostas, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, oversees the portfolio that includes EU transport and tourism policy.

Bus and coach passenger rights

EU bus and coach passenger rights apply to regular long-distance (more than 250 km) bus and coach services starting or finishing in an EU country, as long as you’re travelling along specified routes with predetermined stops at specified intervals. Some of these rights apply to all regular services.

Pricing

When buying a bus or coach ticket, you may not be charged a higher price because of your nationality or where you are buying the ticket from.

Delay or cancellation

If your bus/coach is delayed or cancelled, you have the right to adequate and timely information. If you are denied boarding, in case of a cancellation or a delay of more than 2 hours, you have a choice between re-routing or a refund. A refund, where relevant, includes a free journey back to the initial departure point. Re-routing should be offered under comparable travel conditions at the earliest opportunity, or rebooking at a later date of your convenience. In some cases (depending on travel distance and length of delay), you are entitled to additional assistance such as meals and refreshments and, if necessary, accommodation.

Compensation

If you are denied boarding, in case of a cancellation or a delay of more than 2 hours, and you are not offered a refund or re-routing , you can afterwards complain and claim a refund plus a compensation worth 50% of the ticket price.

Liability towards passenger and luggage

Carriers can, under certain circumstances, be held liable for injury or death resulting from an accident. In case of lost or damaged luggage resulting from a bus accident, passengers are also entitled to compensation.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how your rights have been applied, you should first contact the carrier. If you are not satisfied with their response, you can lodge a complaint with the National Enforcement Body in your country of residence.

For more information and advice on your rights and how you can get a refund or compensation, visit the ‘Your Europe’ passenger rights website. Road passenger rights legislation, policy documents and studies can be found here.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

At their recent General Meeting, the representatives of the European Passengers’ Federation (EPF) member associations discussed the Commission’s report to the European Parliament and European Council on the operation and the effects of Regulation 181/2011 concerning the rights of passengers in bus and coach transport. A letter stating EPF’s view on this matter was sent to the members of the TRAN committee on December 15th.

Following the regulation for passenger rights in long distance coaches the national enforcement bodies are obliged to publish their reports and to transmit them to the European Commission. The Commission will not publish the reports, but has given EPF the green light to do this.

Rail passenger rights

EU rail passenger rights generally apply to all international rail journeys within the EU. National governments can decide for themselves whether or not these rights also apply to domestic rail services (regional, urban, suburban transport) and international services that start or finish their journey outside the EU.

Pricing

When buying a train ticket, you may not be charged a higher price because of your nationality or where you are buying the ticket from.

Delay or cancellation

If your train is delayed or cancelled, you have the right to adequate and timely information. In case of a cancellation or a delay of more than 1 hour, you have a choice between re-routing or a refund. A refund, where relevant, includes a free journey back to the initial departure point. Re-routing should be offered under comparable travel conditions at the earliest opportunity, or rebooking at a later date of your convenience. You will also be offered additional assistance such as meals and refreshments and, if necessary, accommodation.

Compensation

In addition, you are entitled to a financial compensation of 25% to 50% of the ticket price – depending on the length of delay (25% in case of a delay of 1-2 hours, 50% in case of a delay of more than 2 hours). If you were informed of a delay before buying the ticket, you will not receive any compensation.

Liability towards passenger and luggage

Rail undertakings can, under certain circumstances, be held liable for injury or death resulting from an accident. In case of lost or damaged (registered) luggage, passengers may also be entitled to compensation.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how your rights have been applied, you should first contact the rail undertaking. If you are not satisfied with their response, you can lodge a complaint with the National Enforcement Body in your country of residence.

For more information and advice on your rights and how you can get a refund or compensation, visit the ‘Your Europe’ passenger rights website. Rail passenger rights legislation, policy documents and studies can be found here.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

The European Commission has revised the rights of passengers in railway transport (Regulation 1371/2007). To this end, it published several documents together with proposed amendments and possible implications. EPF monitored closely the developments on this legal text since the beginning of the negotiations.

EPF has issued a statement (download here) as a reaction to the proposed Recast of Regulation (EC) 1371/2007 on rail passengers’ rights and obligations. The Regulation proposal 2017/0237 can be summarized as follows:

Member States can still derogate from the Regulation for regional and suburban rail services and urban transport. But mainline and national services are no more exempted.
Compensation principle in case of delays for connecting trains – but railway undertakings can escape it if they inform customers that they don’t accept this principle.
More obligations for ticket vendors (different from rail undertakings), infrastructure managers and station managers.
Exemption of compensation obligation for delays caused by strong meteorological or major natural circumstances.

We then welcomed the position taken by the Parliaments in its plenary vote of 15th November 2018; this vote reflected the need for passengers’ rights to be properly protected in the event of disruptions to rail services.

During the trilogue agreement of 1st October 2020, we understood that many of the Parliament’s laudable objectives fell through in the negotiations. EPF issued a statement reporting our concerns regarding the new text (that can be found here). We continued working with the involved parties, through several meetings where we expressed our concerns.

On 17 May 2021, the regulation was published in the Official Journal of the EU, with the transition period lasting until 7 June 2023. However, member states have until 7 June 2025 for applying Article 6(4), regarding procurement and upgrade procedures for rolling stock.

The full regulation (EU) 2021/782 can be found here.

Ship passenger rights

EU ship passenger rights generally apply if you are travelling within the EU on large ferries and cruise ships on sea, rivers, lakes or canals. They do not apply to small ships (not more than 13 passengers and/or 3 crew members), most historical ships, excursion and sightseeing ships.

Pricing

When buying a ship ticket, you may not be charged a higher price because of your nationality or where you are buying the ticket from.

Delay or cancellation

If your ship is delayed or cancelled, you have the right to adequate and timely information. In case of a cancellation or a delay of more than 90 minutes, you have a choice between re-routing or a refund. A refund, where relevant, includes a free journey back to the initial departure point. You will be also be offered additional assistance such as meals and refreshments and, if necessary, accommodation.

Compensation

In case of a delay of at least 1 hour, you may be entitled to a financial compensation of 25% to 50% of the ticket price. If the delay is caused by severe weather conditions or natural disasters, or if you were informed of the delay before you bought the ticket, you will not receive any compensation.

Liability towards passenger and luggage

In the case of injury or death resulting from an accident at sea, passengers (or their successors) have a right to compensation from the carrier. In case of lost or damaged luggage resulting from accidents, passengers are also entitled to compensation.

Complaints

If you are not satisfied with how your rights have been applied, you should first contact the shipping company. If you are not satisfied with their response, you can lodge a complaint with the National Enforcement Body in your country of residence.

For more information and advice on your rights and how you can get a refund or compensation, visit the ‘Your Europe’ passenger rights website. Maritime passenger rights legislation, policy documents and studies can be found here.

Reduced mobility

If you have reduced mobility, you should still be able to travel like anyone else, at no extra cost.

You can’t be stopped from buying a ticket, making a reservation or getting on board of an airplane, train, bus, coach or ship because of your reduced mobility – unless it is physically impossible or there are security concerns.

Disabled travellers or travellers with reduced mobility are entitled to assistance, free of charge:

getting on and off the train / bus / coach / airplane / ship
on board during the journey
at the airport, bus terminal, port or station before and after the journey.

In order to receive the necessary assistance, you should contact the transport company and explain which kind of assistance you need:

at least 48 hours before the journey if you travel by plane, train or ship
at least 36 hours before the journey if you travel by bus or coach.

Transport companies are not obliged to provide help with eating, taking medication etc. If you need this type of help, they might require that you be accompanied by another person. In some cases, this companion may travel for free or at a reduced price.

For more information and advice on the rights of passengers with reduced mobility, visit the ‘Your Europe’ passenger rights website.

Multimodal rights

On December 22nd 2016, the European Commission published a first political analysis of activities which might be needed to implement ‘multimodal passenger rights’. The document can be found here.

EPF welcomes the initiative of the European Commission to address the improvement of multimodal passenger rights. Extending the legislation on passenger rights to multimodal journeys is of key relevance to passengers as most journeys are effectively multi-modal. From a user’s point of view there is a need to understand journeys as a door to door trip. This means any action has to cover full travel-information, through ticket and options for through booking over the whole journey. Any operators need to collaborate in case of problems and take responsibility to the passengers.

EPF’s contribution to the survey ‘Public Consultation on a possible initiative at EU level in the field of passengers rights in multimodal transport’ can be consulted here.

The draft executive summary of the study conducted on multimodal passenger rights is available (March 2019) and can be downloaded here.