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Charges for Oxygen (Airlines)

I think that my hon. Friend is talking about the list that he read into the record earlier. However, many of those airlines fall outside the jurisdiction of the EU, let alone the UK. He is right about the range of options. Some carriers might charge for supplying their own oxygen or allow passengers to bring on their own oxygen cylinder. He is also right that a number of those 22 airlines do not permit the latter, but do allow—I was just coming to this point—portable oxygen concentrator devices to be brought on board. But some airlines do not allow those either. The code of practice issued by the UK Government notes that as an alternative to oxygen cylinders, passengers could use their own portable oxygen concentrator devices. It recommends that airlines should normally allow such devices to be carried, if they are battery powered and not dependent on the aircraft's power supplies. Although air carriers are not required to do so under EC regulation, some might decide to supply medical oxygen to passengers on request. The code acknowledges that it would be possible to charge for that service to cover the provision of oxygen. It will be apparent, therefore, that European law, which cannot legislate for airlines such as Emirates or Singapore Airlines, aims to strike a balance between the needs of particular groups and airlines' commercial requirements. However, there are further considerations, including those raised by the campaign to which my hon. Friend referred, which has raised awareness of this issue. The Department wants to encourage airlines to make clear their conditions of carriage, so that passengers considering travelling on a particular airline are aware of its policy and can make an informed choice when they purchase their tickets. Indeed, I took on board my hon. Friend's comments about the stress through which people can be put to try to find out that information. That is why I went online to check out a number of airlines. I typed in "medical oxygen" and "oxygen supplies" to see what would come up. Although some websites were better than others, all of them carried the necessary information. We must continue to work with the transport industry—not just the airline industry—to ensure that it provides accessible information and meets people's requirements.