Civil Aviation Bill Template Letter
Instructions:
Copy the text below into an email.
Personalise the letter with your details and share any personal experiences you feel are important. If you were not personally affected, remove those paragraphs and say instead that you are writing in support of people whom airlines denied boarding and compensation because the airlines would not accept their eVisa.
Find your MP’s email address. Add it to the ‘To’ field, and copy [email protected] into the ‘Cc’ field.
Drop us a line at [email protected] once you receive a response from your MP.
Subject: Opportunity to strengthen consumer protection for eVisa holders: Civil Aviation Bill (POSTCODE)
Dear [MP Name],
I am writing to you as your constituent [add your address and postcode here] because (I struggled to prove my status on my recent flight back to the UK / I was denied boarding/ I am worried that ) when the airline would not accept my digital-only proof of immigration status, an eVisa. I have no straightforward path to compensation or means to file a complaint.
The problem does not lie with the Home Office but with the regulations for airline carriers being too vague for the modern era of digital status. Carriers can claim that I am not ‘adequately documented’, and thereby both refuse to allow me to get on the plane, and deny me any compensation that is usually due when people are denied boarding for e.g. overbooking or other reasons.
The problem is that the term ‘adequately documented’ is not defined anywhere.
The Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, currently going through Parliament, offers the perfect opportunity to address this. the3million and ILPA wrote to the Aviation Minister, Keir Mather, and his response suggests that the Government will not introduce further protections for eVisa holders in this Bill.
Without the help of MPs, there will continue to be a gap in consumer protections for people like me, eVisa holders, who had no say in how we would prove our rights in the UK.
Would you be able to help by tabling an amendment that protects us by properly defining adequately documented? the3million has a draft amendment ready to go.
For extra information, please see:
- the3million’s suggested amendment and briefing with case studies
- The letter that the3million and ILPA sent to the Aviation Minister and the minister’s reply
- The letter from the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA), in which the IMA shares the3million’s concern about people wrongly denied boarding
I would be grateful if you could let me know whether you would agree to table an amendment. I am happy to share further details of my experience (including receipts and correspondence with the airline) if that would help.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR FULL NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS, INCLUDING POSTCODE]
[YOUR EMAIL / PHONE]