The European Parliament shields air passenger rights

14-10-25

The European Parliament has taken a key step to strengthen the protection of air travelers in the Union by setting its negotiating position with Member States on the review of passenger rights rules. The line approved in the European Parliament departs from the Council’s stance and rejects raising the delay thresholds that give a right to compensation —a proposal that sought to increase them to four hours for short-haul flights and six for long-haul—, defending the maintenance of the current thresholds while also introducing practical, clear improvements in favor of consumers.

The parliamentary decision comes after more than a decade of debate on updating Regulation (EC) 261/2004, a landmark text that has served as a shield for millions of passengers facing cancellations, denied boarding, and long delays. The European Commission revived the file and the Council of the EU set out its position in June 2025, opening the door to longer delays before compensation and to a reconfiguration of amounts. The European Parliament, however, has chosen to preserve the balance in favor of the traveler and avoid a “devaluation” of rights already consolidated. The decisive phase of trilogues between Parliament, Council, and Commission now begins.

In addition to safeguarding access to compensation in cases of long delays, MEPs have backed measures that ease everyday issues and improve the travel experience. These include the explicit and free recognition of the personal item that fits under the seat —handbag, backpack, or briefcase— and one reasonable carry-on piece in the cabin, settling a recurring source of conflict at check-in counters and boarding gates. The position also incorporates a common European complaint form, easy to use and pre-filled where appropriate, to speed up processing and reduce the paperwork burden travelers currently face.

Passenger assistance is tangibly strengthened. The European Parliament calls for clearer obligations of care when a traveler is stranded: accommodation, meals, alternative transport, and rerouting within defined time frames, preventing consumers from being trapped in labyrinths of “extraordinary circumstances” or shunted to opaque platforms. This reinforcement is especially relevant for groups with specific needs, such as families with minors or persons with disabilities or reduced mobility, for whom Parliament requests priority assistance protocols.

The political tug-of-war with the Council centers on the economic core of the system: when the right to compensation arises and in what amount. In June, ministers argued for raising time thresholds and adjusting amounts, on the grounds of giving airlines predictability and protecting regional connectivity. Parliament, for its part, believes legal certainty cannot be achieved at the expense of lowering consumer protection and advocates simplifying rules without reducing rights. Negotiations must also heed industry voices: regional airline associations have warned that an overly burdensome regime could jeopardize routes essential to peripheral communities; consumer organizations, by contrast, warn that weakening the compensation standard discourages punctuality and penalizes the end user.

For the distribution channel and travel agencies, standardizing the form and clarifying carry-on rules provide certainty and reduce commercial friction, while decreasing the number of incidents that end in complex claims or litigation. Measures such as automatic rights notifications and the obligation to offer real alternative transport when a flight is canceled could, if consolidated in the final text, improve customer satisfaction and the reputation of Europe’s tourism value chain as a whole.

The immediate timetable involves launching the trilogues and seeking a compromise that preserves the high level of passenger protection without stifling the recovery of air transport or territorial connectivity. If Parliament’s position prevails, European travelers will retain access to compensation under current thresholds, benefit from clear rules on carry-on baggage, and have a more agile and harmonized claims mechanism across the EU. The final outcome, expected in the coming months, will determine whether Europe consolidates its role as a global reference in passenger rights or, on the contrary, retreats from standards that have shaped the last decade of air mobility.

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