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What the EU's 2026 Passenger Rights Reform Means for You

Written by Ivandzhelin Bozadzhieva
Approved by Ivaylo Danailov
Last updated: July 07, 2026

Update (7 July 2026): The European Parliament has now approved the reform. In its July plenary, MEPs backed the text agreed in the Conciliation Committee by 646 votes to 12, with 3 abstentions. Nothing in the substance changed from what we describe below: the 3-hour threshold stays, and compensation holds at €250 (£220) to €600 (£520) by distance.

The file now goes to the Council, which is expected to give final confirmation by early August 2026. Thereafter, the rules enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU's Official Journal, and airlines and member states then get one year to prepare before the new rights actually apply, likely in the second half of 2027.

So for any flight disrupted today, nothing changes yet. The current EU261 rules and today's list of extraordinary circumstances still apply, so a delay of 3 hours or more, a cancellation or an overbooking can still entitle you to €250 to €600 (£220 to £520).

 

After 13 years of deadlock, the EU has agreed to modernise its air passenger rights rules, known as EU261. On 15 June 2026, the European Parliament and Council reached a provisional deal, and for most travellers it is good news. The 3-hour delay threshold stays, compensation holds at €250 (£220) to €600 (£520), the price you see upfront must now include a cabin-bag allowance, and vulnerable passengers get stronger protection. SkyRefund welcomes the reform, but our specialists flag one thread running through it: you only hear about your rights if the airline first decides your delay could qualify.

 

Your compensation is protected

The most important news is what did not change. You still qualify for compensation when your flight is delayed by 3 hours or more, cancelled at short notice, or you are denied boarding, and the amounts hold at €250 (£220) to €600 (£520) by distance. Earlier proposals would have pushed the threshold to 4 or 6 hours and cut up to 60% of claims. SkyRefund applauds the decision to keep these thresholds.

 

Stronger rights where they were missing

The reform reinforces and extends rights for the passengers who need them most: those with disabilities or reduced mobility (PRMs), pregnant travellers, children and unaccompanied minors. 

  • Families, PRMs and the people travelling with them can sit together at no extra cost, and lost or damaged mobility equipment must be replaced at no cost. 
  • No-show penalties are completely forbidden for PRMs, pregnant travellers and unaccompanied minors, so they can never lose a booked leg. 
  • For everyone else, missing your outbound flight no longer lets an airline deny you boarding on the return, or charge a fee for it. 

Airlines must also show fares that already include a cabin-bag allowance by default, so you compare a real price rather than a stripped-back one. That is a good step for consumers and for honest fare comparison, but it is transparency, not a price cap: it does not limit what airlines can charge for luggage, or change how they charge for it. 

 

A real right to rerouting

Rerouting gets real teeth too. After a cancellation or denied boarding, the airline must offer you an alternative within three hours, and that can be by a different route, through another airport, on another airline, or even on a different mode of transport. It must be at the airline's expense and in comparable conditions, so you cannot be pushed onto several connections if you booked a direct flight, and an upgrade to a higher class costs you nothing. You also keep your right to compensation for the delay on arrival. 

Best of all, if the airline does not reroute you within three hours, you can arrange it yourself and claim back up to 400% of your ticket price. SkyRefund sees this as one of the strongest wins in the decision.

 

A clearer list of extraordinary circumstances

The reform also writes a standardised list of extraordinary circumstances, the narrow set of events that let an airline refuse compensation, straight into EU261, to cut the guesswork over when a refusal is fair. The list mostly codifies the case law that already applies and keeps the same core test: the event must fall outside the airline's normal activity and beyond its actual control. 

Two details narrow the airline's escape routes. Unexpected safety shortcomings in a plane's equipment did not make the agreed list, and in 2026 the Commission confirmed that high fuel prices do not count either. 

The catch is that the list is non-exhaustive, so courts will still settle the edge cases.

 

More information, but only if the airline says you qualify

When your flight is delayed, the airline must now tell you the cause as soon as it knows it and, within 96 hours, contact you electronically with your rights and clear instructions to claim. It then has to pay or justify a refusal within 30 days. Most passengers never claim because they do not know they are owed anything, so that duty is a real win.

Here is the catch SkyRefund's lawyers flag. That 96-hour duty only applies to a delay the airline itself treats as one that could be grounds for compensation. If it blames extraordinary circumstances, the airline does not have to tell you anything about your rights or how to claim. The passengers most likely to be wrongly refused are then the ones never told they might have a case, and they stay as unaware as they are today. 

In our practice, airlines cite extraordinary circumstances when our system finds the cause does not qualify, and once our team takes over we recover the compensation owed. 

Our data shows a consistent gap between the reason passengers give for a disruption and the reason the airline gives. And because only passengers the airline deems eligible are informed, the reform might not close the awareness gap that leaves many European travellers in the dark.

 

The bottom line

This is a real step forward, and SkyRefund applauds the direction taken. But just as under the current rules, the airline assesses your claim first, and an “extraordinary circumstances” label is not the final word. 

One note on timing: the Parliament has now approved the text, and the Council is expected to give final confirmation by early August 2026. The rules then enter into force 20 days after publication in the EU's Official Journal, and should only start to apply from the second half of 2027, once airlines have had time to adapt.

For any flight disrupted today, nothing changes. The current EU261 rules and today's list of extraordinary circumstances still apply, so a delay of 3 hours or more, a cancellation or an overbooking can still entitle you to €250 to €600 (£220 to £520), unless the airline can prove an extraordinary circumstance.

 

SkyRefund's coverage of EU261

Currently, the European Union is discussing changes in Regulation EC261/2004 that will change air passenger rights in the EU. Find out more in our coverage of the proceedings: