Initiative from Lower Saxony: Advance payment for air travel should be eliminated

With a Federal Council initiative, Lower Saxony wants to abolish the advance payment principle for air travel this summer in view of the chaos at several German airports. “This type of contract design has often led to considerable difficulties for travelers in recent years if the respective flights have not been carried out as planned,” says the initiative of the state government in Hanover, which is available to the German Press Agency. In the future, ticket prices should therefore be asked for at the earliest “when the flight is processed”. The “Handelsblatt” had previously reported on it.

“In future, the ticket would only have to be paid for at check-in. We want to significantly improve consumer protection for travelers with this,” Lower Saxony’s Transport Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) told the business newspaper. A spokesman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the reason for the initiative was the chaotic conditions in the handling of travelers at several German airports this summer. Thousands of flights have already been canceled due to a lack of staff. Althusmann said these flight cancellations were almost always at the expense of travelers. “They often paid for the plane ticket months in advance, but in the event of a cancellation they have to work hard and sometimes tediously to get a refund.”

According to the report by the “Handelsblatt”, complaints to the arbitration board for public transport (SÖP) have recently increased significantly. According to this, 3082 applications were received between July 1st and August 15th this year – that was 127.5 percent or 1727 cases more than in the same period last year. Around 80 percent of the disputes were related to air traffic. The train affected around 15 percent of the cases, another three percent included long-distance buses and local transport. The “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” had previously reported on these figures.

The SPD and CSU agree in the Bundestag

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Hanover, the red-black state government wants to decide on the proposal in the cabinet on Tuesday and put it on the agenda at the next Federal Council meeting on September 16th. To what extent other countries support the initiative, the ministry spokesman could not say on Saturday.

Approval came on Saturday from the SPD and CSU parliamentary groups, as reported by the “Handelsblatt”. “A softening of the principle of payment in advance is conceivable and, in view of the increasing number of complaints, a step that should be seriously considered,” said CSU consumer politician Volker Ullrich of the newspaper. He emphasized that in his view it would be just as effective to oblige airlines to automatically compensate their customers using so-called smart contracts.

The CDU traffic politician Thomas Bareiß warned against hasty consequences. The abolition of the prepayment principle would strengthen the position of the consumer. But: “In a growing global travel market, it is very important that Germany remains competitive for airlines and airports and does not lose its attractiveness.”

With a view to the flight chaos in Germany, the head of the Federal Association of Consumer Organizations, Ramona Pop, had already spoken out in favor of abolishing the prepayment principle at the end of July. Regardless of the current situation, the federal association has long been demanding that the price for flights and package tours should be due at the earliest at the time of departure. The Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, on the other hand, recently pointed out the advantages of the prepayment system. By paying in advance, the airlines can plan for the long term, achieve high utilization of the aircraft and, in return, offer consumers cheaper tickets through early booking discounts, it said.

Handelsblatt report