Airline passengers will find it more difficult to obtain compensation for delayed or cancelled flights following an official finding that the European Commission overstated their rights.
The European Ombudsman has told the commission to correct inaccurate and misleading information it put out which suggested that passengers had a right to compensation for flight delays and cancellations.
In fact passengers are never entitled to compensations for delays and qualify for compensation when flights are cancelled or overbooked only in very limited circumstances.
The ombudsman's ruling was welcomed yesterday by Ryanair, which called for the scrapping of EU legislation which provides for compensation for airline passengers.
The airline noted the finding by ombudsman Nikiforos Diamandouros that the misleading information was likely to have "contributed to a considerable number of disputes between passengers and airlines that could have been avoided had the commission provided accurate information".
Two groups of European airlines, including Ryanair and Aer Lingus, took the case after the commission introduced the new legislation in 2005.
Ryanair's head of regulatory affairs, Jim Callaghan, said the legislation was anti-competitive and anti-consumer as it forced airlines to provide huge amounts of compensation and assistance to passengers for delays and cancellations even in cases where these were completely beyond the airlines' control.
However, when asked to state how much Ryanair has paid in compensation to passengers, a spokesman refused to do so.
Mary Denise O'Reilly, of the European Consumers' Centre in Dublin, said there was a great deal of confusion among consumers about their rights under EU regulations because the rules were complicated.
In many cases brought to its attention air passengers forced to endure lengthy airport delays were led to believe they were entitled to compensation when they were not.
"But consumers contacting our network also complain about the lack of information available from airlines, as well as about the often misleading information given to them about their rights."
Meanwhile, it has emerged that Aer Lingus staff are to receive 10 per cent of revenue collected from new charges for bags checked in at airports.
From next Wednesday, Aer Lingus passengers who check their bags in at the airport must pay €8 each way per item of checked luggage, with 10 per cent going to check-in staff. Passengers who check in luggage on the company's website will pay €4 each way, and none of this will be paid in commission to staff.
Aer Lingus declined to say how much the new commission system would cost. For the first year of the new scheme, each check-in worker is guaranteed a payment of at least €1,000.
Siptu is recommending that its members should accept the deal in a ballot which will be completed by Wednesday.