Behind closed doors, governments initially backed airline-friendly changes, but consumer groups and MEPs clawed back core EU passengers’ rights.
Petra Pavlovičová
The EU has reached a deal on compensation for delayed flights and carry-on luggage, as part of efforts to update the bloc’s rules on air-passenger rights and airline liability, which started back in 2013.
Air traffic has expanded quickly since recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought travel to a prolonged standstill. Only in 2024 did air travel in the EU reach 1.1 billion passengers.
But the rights of air travellers haven’t been updated since 2004.
The deal, reached in mid-June, comes after years of lobbying against an improvement of passengers’ rights amid fears of costly compensation for delays and cancellations, with lobby groups pushing for higher compensation thresholds and weaker passenger protections.
“Consumers can be happy overall with this reform. The deal consolidates in the law key air passenger rights while thankfully putting an end to unfair practices,” said Agustín Reyna, director at BEUC, the Brussels-based consumer rights organisation.
A 2025 Euroconsumers survey across Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal showed strong passenger frustration, with 90 percent saying hand luggage should be included in the ticket price and many describing baggage policies as unclear, unfair and misleading when comparing fares.
Compensation remains same
The Council has taken a long time to reach a common position. When it finally did, the proposal then reflected demands – pushed by the airlines – such as higher compensation threshold and weaker passengers’ protections.
“For years, there was pressure to weaken passengers rights, which would have left millions of passengers worse off,” Belgian MEP Kathleen Van Brempt of Vooruit told EUobserver.
“We should be pleased, but not entirely satisfied. We managed to protect passengers from losing rights they already had”, she added.
This particularly concerns the threshold on delays and compensations. Customers can ask for compensation, which technically stays the same as it was until now.
Airlines have long argued that this does not give them enough time to arrange a replacement aircraft and get passengers to their destination.
“Often, it means the airline cancels the flight and pays the compensation to avoid mounting costs from longer delays. The problem is that most travellers would prefer a delay to a cancellation — late is better than never,” said the International Air Transport Association.
From three hours delay, a passenger could have rights to a compensation of €250 for all flights of 1,500 km or less, €400 for all intra-EU flights or flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km and €600 for all other flights.
However, if the air carrier can prove that the delay or change of schedule happened due to an “extraordinary circumstances” and could not have been avoided, the airline will not be obliged to pay compensation.
While compensations are largely similar to those applicable today, there are some important changes.
Free carry-on luggage
