Too many passengers still unaware of their rights

A recurring criticism of the European Union is that it is bureaucratic and out of touch with the day-to-day concerns of its citizens. The complexity of its institutions and the illegibility of its directives and regulations for uninformed readers do not make it easy to understand. Yet some texts have a direct impact on our daily lives. This is the case with the series of regulations produced since the 1990s on passenger rights. The one currently in force dates from 2004 (regulation 261/2004) and has already made it much easier to obtain compensation in the event of delay or cancellation of an air flight – a system extended to rail journeys in 2021 (regulation 2021/782).