- Airlines may have to drop ban on charges for parents to sit with children under 14.
- Reform retains compensation between €250 and €600 for delays of three hours or more.
- Plans to reduce payouts for cancellations and delays ended after negotiations.
- Ticket websites must display prices that include hand luggage.
- Changes prohibit fees for correcting spelling mistakes in bookings.
Negotiators between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers have been advancing towards agreement on updates to air passenger rights legislation across Europe. EU ambassadors approved a compromise text on Friday that maintains core elements of the existing framework.
The reform includes protections that airlines have been adopting for family seating and price transparency while avoiding major reductions in passenger entitlements.
The agreement preserves the three-hour delay threshold that triggers compensation rights for passengers. Compensation amounts remain between €250 and €600 depending on flight distance for delays of three hours or more, cancellations, or denied boarding. Plans to extend the delay threshold or lower payout levels faced strong resistance from lawmakers and ended during the final stages of conciliation talks. The text also requires ticket websites to display prices that include hand luggage and bans extra charges for seating children under 14 next to accompanying adults.
This compromise follows months of negotiations in the Conciliation Committee with a deadline of Monday for final approval. If endorsed, the reform proceeds to formal adoption by member states and the Parliament before it comes into force. It leaves the current compensation system largely intact after more than a decade of discussions while introducing targeted improvements on transparency and family seating.
EU countries sought to reduce compensation for cancelled flights and long delays but dropped those plans because of opposition from lawmakers. A push to ban charges for carry-on luggage ended in favour of rules that require ticket websites to show prices including hand luggage. The reform keeps the current compensation system that gives passengers between €250 and €600 depending on flight distance for delays of three hours or more. Airlines noted that this system leads to high costs and sometimes prompts cancellations to avoid knock-on schedule disruptions.
Representatives from the 27 member states agreed on a text with broad support from lawmakers at a meeting. This paves the way for provisional approval. The changes also ban fees for correcting spelling mistakes in bookings and for seating children under 14 next to their parents.
Jan-Christoph Oetjen shared “We have successfully defended air passenger rights.”
