Description
The project is addressed to air passengers, especially the ones that travel occasionally, alone or with families, and have poor knowledge of existing regulations. Its purpose is to assess situation in the field of passenger rights enforcement, enhance communication (through internet) between the main stakeholders, support extrajudicial settlement of disputes, and increase rights awareness within civil society. Long-term purpose: improving the situation in the field of consumer rights enforcement for air passengers in Poland eg. by shortening the time of handling complaints by relevant authorities and offering passengers affordable help in the form of mediation and/or arbitration. In this way, all categories of passengers (and not only privileged business air travelers) - over 24 million people a year in Poland - will have an easier access to support for their rights enforcement. The project will lead to elimination of disadvantages and building of confidence.
Summary of project results
"Together with the dynamic growth of air transport, the opinions among passengers on the quality of some aspects of the air services become more critical. At the same time, relatively small percentage of travellers complain officially and use their rights. The reasons for the situation include: low awareness among clients on protection of their rights, difficulties in pursuing their rights, the existing legal loopholes, many different entities offering help independently, and the belief among passengers that public institutions responsible for enforcing regulations are ineffective. The aim of the project was to enhance the awareness among citizens who are air passengers and their activation in the field of using their consumer rights. The long-term aim of the project was to enhance the effectiveness of enforcing consumer rights. As a result of the project, information on the rights of air passengers reached over 20 thousand passengers. In particular, we tried to reach and offer help to persons who travel occasionally, mainly individually or with families, who are not well aware of their rights. Among companies (airlines) the advantages of extrajudicial settling of disputes with their clients (passengers) were promoted - contacts were established with 40 airlines, out of which 10 received applications from passengers for mediation. Under the project, an educational campaign was conducted, the Internet platform for monitoring complaints was launched, individual passengers were offered help (almost 1000 persons), including mediation procedures, surveys were conducted resulting in a report, a conference and a workshop were organised for city consumer rights plenipotentiaries. In addition, projects of legal amendments for the benefit of all consumers were presented. The project benefited airline passengers, airlines and institutions responsible for protecting consumers."
Summary of bilateral results