Changes to EU 261/2004 have been a long time in coming. The need for review and revision was almost immediate as pretty much any stakeholders could point to the Regulation and find justified cause for criticism. If nothing else it never had (and still does not…) have any entitlement or wording for compensation for flight delay. It took years of bitter fights back and forth for the EU Court of Justice to rule in the seminal case of Sturgeon v Condor C-402/07 that such compensation was in scheme. Then, for even more years there were pitched engagements over all kinds of issues ranging from how timings of delays were calculated through to exactly what is an “Extraordinary Circumstance”.
So, after all that, what is the outcome of the review and provisional agreement that now seems locked in, and how do we here at Travlaw see it? This is the proverbial “mixed bag” irrespective of where you sit:
- Firstly, the fundamentals of how much is received for delay and cancellation etc… stay the same, and the geographical distance categories remain in place. There had been much talk of changing the fixed tariffs to either percentage of ticket price or simply increasing to keep up with inflation, but neither has happened.
- Secondly, a fair criticism down the years has been that the lawmakers must have had some idea about what might constitute an Extraordinary Circumstances, but outside of the few examples in the legislation were never drawn on what they were. This lead to many, many arguments down the years which lead to few winners as cases dragged on. Now there is an expanded, non-exhaustive list of what should be deemed Extraordinary Circumstances – such definition helps everyone even though it isn’t necessary quite as comprehensive as it could be.
- Next, a lot of the focus in recent times has been on how passengers actually make claims. Many airlines adopted a portal (or similar) scheme to allow claims to be made and considered directly, but some made it unnecessarily hard to even establish whether there was a claim, which perversely drove many passengers to third party advisors and law firms to assist. Now airlines are under more of duty to let passengers know exactly what their rights are and to provide a process for claims to be submitted within 96 hours of the event, and then to respond to claims within 30 days. It remains to be seen how many airlines will manage that – many are already there but some, based on past experience, might struggle.
- Some changes I will classify as “Good for the tour operators” include that airlines can now not charge for minor amendments to tickets such as name changes and the practice of cancelling an “in-bound” flight when a passengers is a no-show for an “out-bound” flight is prohibited also.
- Perhaps of some surprise is an outright ban on unexpected (i.e. they can still be charged, just not hidden…) fees for smaller, carry on bags and also on children under the age of 14 not being sat with parents/guardians. The practice of printed boarding passes being provided for free is also now part of the rules. These have been hot topics in their own right, so expect there to be plenty of commentary from certain quarters!
- Lastly, there were some other elements which might go under the radar for a lot of passengers but which will be extremely well received by others, such as the widening of support and rights for passengers with reduced mobility, including the right to travel with equipment and assistance dogs without a need to pay for separate insurance and replacements at no cost should such equipment be damaged or misplaced.
What Next?
It really has taken a lot of effort to get to this stage so whilst this is due to be voted on by the EU Parliament and the Council, it seems unlikely this won’t go through and the expectation is that the changes will come into effect in late 2027 so there is a sensible lead in time.
For reference, the full press release is here: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2026/06/15/council-and-parliament-reach-landmark-agreement-on-stronger-eu-air-passenger-rights/
What Does this Mean for the UK?
Just as with the Package Travel Regulations, the UK kept the flight delay position as it was prior to Brexit, so now we have effectively “UK 261”. This is not actively under review at the time of writing, so leads to the curious situation of both the UK and EU having somewhat different rules dependant upon whether the EU law or UK law applies, which can be affected by not only the operating airline but the practicalities of in which country the passengers are resident. From an industry advisor point of view it is hard to really see the benefits in having different rules in place – all that creates is difficulty for airlines, passengers and associated businesses such as tour operators. It will be fascinating to see what the UK does with UK 261 going forward – will they watch to see how the EU rules bed in, or will they look to follow suit with changes as soon as possible? Watch, as they say, this space.
Matt Gatenby is Senior Partner at Travlaw – if you have any queries on this or any other travel law matters please reach out to Matt@Travlaw.co.uk or to 01132 580033.
This article was originally published on: 16 June 2026
