Changes to the package travel directive will not come into effect before 2015, it was revealed at the Travel Convention.
Thomas Cook director Andy Cooper explained the tortuous process getting a change through the European parliament and he said changes to air passengers’ rights would not be in place before 2013.
He was speaking on a panel with Civil Aviation Authority director Richard Jackson and Travel Republic managing director Kane Pirie, discussing consumer protection.
“There are currently two separate strands of work taking place in Brussels,” he said. “The director general for transport is looking at air passenger rights and whether there should be financial protection for all airline passengers.
“The package travel directive, which came out in 1990, has needed reforming for the past 10 years and is now on the agenda with the director general for justice.
“We had a meeting with them and it was quite clear that these two unrelated departments were not communicating with each other.
“Mid 2013 is the earliest point in which we could have agreement on these two points.
“But as for the package travel directive, it would be a further two years before any changes are implemented.”
Cooper said that Brussels was likely to steer towards giving more rights to consumers.
By Jeremy Skidmore
