The European Parliament and the Council have reached a landmark political agreement on the revision of EU air passenger rights, marking the first overhaul of these rules in over two decades. The provisional agreement on a review of air passenger rights rules, which secured unanimous backing from the EP delegation to the so-called Conciliation Committee on June 15, modernizes and strengthens EU air passenger rights by clarifying existing provisions and reinforcing legal certainty for travelers, airlines, and enforcement authorities across the Union. The deal seeks to protect passengers against travel disruption, such as denied boarding and delayed or cancelled flights. The rules had not been updated since 2004.
“The European Parliament has always been the strongest advocate for strong air passenger rights,” Parliament President Roberta Metsola said, stressing that this agreement will strengthen the rights of air passengers across Europe. “It will bring greater transparency and predictability for both consumers and airlines, without creating unnecessary bureaucracy for our industry. Parliament fought hard to make travel fairer and procedures clearer, and this is what we have delivered,” she added.
Transport and Tourism Committee Vice-chair Virginijus Sinkevičius from Lithuania stressed the deal protects the rights people already have, adds new safeguards, and brings greater clarity when things go wrong. “Parliament was clear from day one: we wanted to modernize the rules, but we would not let passengers pay the price. After more than a decade of deadlock, Europe is finally updating air passenger rights while keeping passengers firmly at the center,” Sinkevičius said.
Compensation and duty of care
Parliament’s negotiators resisted a push to weaken air passenger rights. Under the deal, air travelers maintain the right to be reimbursed or re-routed in case of cancellation, and to claim compensation if a flight is delayed by more than three hours, if it is cancelled less than 14 days before a flight, or if they are denied boarding, the EP said in a press release.
Compensation for delayed or cancelled flights will depend on flight distance: €250 for journeys up to 1,500 kilometers, €400 for journeys between 1,500 kilometers and 3,500 kilometers, and €600 for all other longer journeys. Air carriers will have the possibility to reduce compensation by 50 percent for their longest journeys if passengers are offered re-routing to their final destination following travel disruption, or if the delay at arrival does not last more than four hours.
However, airlines will be able to avoid paying compensation, if the delay or cancellation was caused by events beyond their control. The new rules will have an open list of these extraordinary circumstances, including for instance natural disasters, war, weather conditions, unruly passengers, or airport, air navigation or ground-handling service provider strikes.
In all cases air operators will have a duty to take care of stranded passengers by providing refreshments every two hours of waiting time, a meal after three hours, and, if needed during long delays, an overnight stay of a maximum of three nights, the agreement says.
Faster and easier reimbursement
Air carriers will need to electronically provide passengers facing travel disruptions (delay or cancellation) with clear instructions on how to submit a request for compensation within four days of the termination of their journey. MEPs ensured that passengers are not obliged to have a user account or to use a specific application to receive this information. According to the agreement, air passengers will have nine months to file a compensation request, while airlines will have 30 days to pay the compensation or to invoke extraordinary circumstances, and to explain why compensation will not be provided and refer passengers to complaint handling steps.
Protecting vulnerable passengers
Members of the European Parliament ensured passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility (PRM) will have the right to compensation, rerouting and assistance by airlines if they miss a flight due to the airport’s failure to help them reach the gate on time. They also made sure that families with kids are not separated during seating, by obliging air carriers to ensure that any person accompanying a child below the age of 14 should be seated on an adjacent seat without paying extra. The same right will apply to passengers with disabilities and reduced mobility, and to pregnant women.
Upgrading passenger rights
The new rules now include the right to carry on board, without additional fee, one personal item, such as a small bag or backpack. On the insistence of MEPs price transparency and the comparability of air tickets was increased by obliging airlines, intermediaries and search portals to always display the air fare inclusive of carry-on luggage at the outset of the booking process. Negotiators agreed that airlines may offer cheaper tickets for passengers who choose voluntarily to travel without hand luggage.
According to the agreement, air passengers will no longer be charged additional fees for correcting name spelling errors or for getting a printed version of a boarding pass if they have already checked in. MEPs also secured passengers the right to obtain boarding passes digitally upon check-in, without any further request or obligation to have a user account or a specific application. In addition, passengers shall not be denied boarding on the grounds that they used their own printed version of a digitally issued boarding pass.
The European Commission welcomed the political agreement. “Today’s agreement is a major step forward for European passengers and for Europe’s aviation sector,” Sustainable Transport and Tourism Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas said. “It delivers stronger and clearer passenger rights in practice, improves transparency, and brings legal certainty for airlines and authorities. We have found the right balance: preserving Europe’s world-leading passenger protection while creating a fair, predictable and workable framework for the aviation industry. This agreement demonstrates that Europe can deliver practical solutions that benefit citizens and businesses alike,” Tzitzikostas was quoted as saying in a press release.
Moving forward rapidly
Under the third reading procedure, the provisional agreement reached in the Conciliation Committee has to be confirmed by both Parliament and the Council within the next six weeks, with a possibility to extend this deadline by a further two weeks. The two institutions will now vote separately on the joint text after its legal-linguistic revision. The European Parliament is planning to vote on the agreement during its July plenary session.