Regulation harmonization, alternative dispute resolution, artificial intelligence & blockchain in the airline industry

Air passenger rights in the European Union are supported by extensive legislation, yet passengers still face fragmented enforcement, uneven national implementation and limited digital redress. This article examines online airline contracting, passenger-rights enforcement, alternative dispute resolution (ADR), accessibility, and the potential roles of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain. It combines doctrinal and illustrative comparative legal analysis with European Commission statistics on the former European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform. The platform attracted substantial use but converted few complaints into formal ADR: during its first year, 85 % of complaints were automatically closed after 30 days, 2 % reached an ADR entity, and fewer than 1 % resulted in a final ADR outcome. Later data indicate that this bottleneck persisted through 2022. The platform was discontinued in 2025, followed by amendments to the EU consumer ADR framework. The article distinguishes substantive legal harmonisation, institutional enforcement and technical interoperability. It proposes a conditional framework in which AI supports multilingual intake, classification, legal-information assistance and triage; blockchain may support evidence integrity and conditional settlement, with personal data kept off-chain. The framework is assessed against the General Data Protection Regulation ( European Parliament and Council of the European Union, 2016 ), the Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), and accessibility and governance requirements. Technology cannot itself create jurisdiction, compel enforcement or harmonise national rules. AI and blockchain should therefore be treated as candidates for empirical testing, subject to legal authority, human oversight, interoperability, accessibility and enforceability.