The European Union has rewritten the rules on what airlines owe you when a flight goes wrong, and the headline is what did not change. Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, published in the EU Official Journal on 2 October 2026, keeps compensation for arrival delays of more than three hours and keeps the amounts at €250, €400 and €600 (euro), depending on distance. It adds a long list of new duties for airlines: deadlines for paying, a free small bag in the cabin, free name corrections and a two-hour limit on waiting inside a plane on the tarmac.
None of this applies yet. The regulation is in force, but its own text says it applies from 23 October 2027. For flights before that date, the 2004 rules summarised on the European Commission’s Your Europe page on air passenger rights (last checked 21 September 2026) still decide what you can claim. The reform has been a long time coming: the European Parliament first voted on it on 5 February 2014.
What stays the same
The new Article 6 keeps the line where compensation starts: you can claim when you reach your final destination more than three hours late. Article 7 sets the amounts at €250 for journeys of 1,500 km or less, €400 for longer journeys inside the EU and for other journeys between 1,500 and 3,500 km, and €600 for everything longer. Those are the same figures Your Europe lists for today’s rules.
On long-haul trips the airline may halve the €600 if you arrive no more than four hours late, which matches the €300 that Your Europe already lists for some long-haul delays today. Distance is measured from your first departure point to your final destination, so a connection through a hub counts as one journey.
Which flights are covered does not change much either. Article 3 covers every passenger departing from an EU airport, and passengers flying into the EU from outside on an EU airline, unless they already received equivalent help under another country’s law. Your Europe adds that the rules also apply to flights to and from Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, three countries outside the EU.
What changes from 23 October 2027
Most of the reform is about how quickly and clearly airlines have to deal with you. From 23 October 2027:
- Information after the trip. If you may be owed compensation, the airline must send you, within 96 hours of the end of your journey, an electronic message explaining your right and how to claim.
- Deadlines on both sides. You have nine months from the departure date on your ticket to submit a claim. The airline must pay, or explain why it will not, within 30 calendar days of receiving it.
- Refunds in seven days. When you choose a refund, it is automatic and paid by bank transfer within seven calendar days; vouchers or other forms of payment need your explicit agreement.
- Long delays and missed connections. When a departure is five hours late, the airline must offer a refund. If you miss a connection on a single booking and the airline cannot rebook you within five hours, it must offer a refund as well.
- Tarmac waits. After two hours stuck on the tarmac at an EU airport, the aircraft must return to the gate or another point where you can get off, with exceptions for safety, security, immigration or air traffic control. While you wait, the cabin must be heated or cooled, toilets must be open and drinking water is free where possible.
- A small bag at no extra cost. Airlines must let you take a personal item into the cabin for free: up to 40 x 30 x 15 cm, or anything that fits under the seat in front. Fares that include a larger piece of hand baggage must be shown by default when you search.
- Names and boarding passes. A spelling mistake in your name is corrected free of charge at least once if you ask at least 48 hours before departure. You cannot be refused boarding for using a boarding pass you printed yourself, or for not paying a fee to use it, and you do not need an app or an account to get a digital one.
- Families. Children who need a pram or pushchair can keep it up to the gate or aircraft door, at no extra cost, unless safety, capacity or operational limits get in the way.
What does not work so well
The reform also writes into law a list of extraordinary circumstances, the events that excuse an airline from paying. It includes weather that makes a flight unsafe, air traffic control restrictions, airport closures and strikes by airport staff, air traffic controllers or ground handlers. A strike by the airline’s own staff counts only when the demands are ones that only public authorities can meet. The airline still has to prove a direct link between the event and your disruption, and say which circumstance it relies on when it refuses.
The cabin bag rule has limits too. Only the small personal item is guaranteed free. A larger hand bag is allowed subject to space in the cabin, and the regulation does not stop airlines selling cheaper fares without one. If the bag cannot travel in the cabin for reasons such as a smaller aircraft, the airline can put it in the hold, but at no extra cost.
What to do now
For flights before 23 October 2027, claim under the current rules: keep your booking, boarding pass and receipts for meals or hotels, ask the airline in writing, and if it refuses, Your Europe explains how to go to the national enforcement body. If you are planning a trip across Europe, our Europe travel guides cover each country, and our article on the EES border checks explains the other big change at EU airports.
For trips from late October 2027 onwards, add two habits: check that the fare you pick includes the hand baggage you need, and correct any spelling error in a passenger name more than 48 hours before departure, when it is free.
Cover photo: Sebleouf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
