That Was The Week That Was 25-29 September 2023
More carry on about Carry-On: Unfortunately, the Parliament is on the Case
The European Union has a petition process, whereby if Europeans can muster enough support, issues of particular concern can be brought to the attention of our regulators. If, like Ryanair you can get a million signatories within a year, you are entitled to a Citizen’s Initiative, and a guaranteed hearing at the parliament. But, if you merely have a concern, you can mount a petition, which will be considered by the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament. If you can show that your concern is within the remit of the European Union – air transport is – you are entitled to be considered. That means that relevant parts of the Commission will be consulted and responses, taken very seriously, tabled. It is not clear is how many signatories you need, so it is possible that you can bring a concern forward, signed by yourself and your children and the wheels of the Commission must be thrown into gear.
With that background behind us, let us consider Petition 0837/2019, presented by one Deepack Rajani, of Germany. Unfortunately, I cannot give you a link to it, because the ever-helpful Parliament website notes that procedure either does not exist, or is in the process of being initiated. We must assume that it is being initiated, but not, you will note as an Initiative. Mr Rajani wants there to be standard, common rules, for carry-on luggage. He, and clearly the Petitions Committee, tire of never knowing what is the correct dimensions for carry-on and fear being fined by each airline for failure to comply with their particular rules, despite your bag being OK for other airlines.
This petition has been considered on more than one occasion, including in February, which started the official response in March. Mr Rajani must be very persuasive because despite that response being that the matter was being considered, we are now facing a proposed Motion for a Resolution on standardised dimensions for carry-on luggage. The Commission response could not have been clearer for those that read between the lines, but obviously that does not include the Petitions Committee. So here we are, facing a Motion for a Resolution. The capital letters really add to it, don’t you think?
This motion, sorry, Motion, does deserve a close read. The best bit is Recital D, which calls on airlines to have ‘a minimum common standard dimension for carry-on luggage’. Really, a minimum standard? That has got to be zero by zero by zero. That must be the minimum. Not even a book. Possibly not your wallet.
Nonetheless, when read closely, again by those that see things between the lines, we are back at the ‘please go away’ interface here. That it has taken this long, involved this many steps and this many officers of the Parliament and the Commission is heartbreaking. The Petitions process defines itself as a tool for transparency. Maybe we should turn the guns back on the Petitions Committee.
It is time to mount a petition to explain how many resources were wasted in this patently untenable wild goose chase.