Influence of Digitalisation in Air Transport on Passenger Rights: Case Study

Abstrakt

A European airline is completely eliminating paper boarding passes, accepting only mobile passes that require the use of an application. This means that passengers must use exclusively electronic passes, without the option to print them. But can such digital advancements be imposed against passengers’ wishes? On the one hand, digitalisation simplifies the check-in process and reduces airline operational costs. On the other hand, however, many passengers still rely on paper boarding passes, making this change potentially challenging for some. Thus, is it possible to achieve the right balance between digitalisation and passengers’ rights? Is the complete digitalisation of the ticketing system, at the expense of passengers’ freedom of choice, legally justified? The purpose of this article is to assess the legality of such a policy in terms of its compliance with consumer protection provisions, the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (GDPR), as well as relevant provisions of aviation law.