For years, flying has meant navigating a maze of add-on fees, upsells, and hidden costs before finding out what a ticket actually costs. Fare tiers, priority boarding, carry-on bags, checked luggage, seat selection: budget carriers pioneered “unbundling” these charges, and now even legacy airlines have followed suit.
This summer, European lawmakers pushed back, and the airline industry lost.
A Long Fight, Won by Passengers
After 13 years of stalled negotiations, the European Parliament approved the most significant update yet to EU261, the regulation that has governed passenger rights on flights departing the EU and on EU-carrier flights arriving there since 2004. Airlines lobbied hard to weaken the rules, particularly by pushing to raise the compensation threshold from three hours of delay to as much as nine. Lawmakers refused. Not only did they preserve every existing protection, they added a substantial list of new ones covering price transparency, family seating, and how compensation claims get handled.
“We can improve them, we can make them better, but we cannot make them worse,” said Andrey Novakov, the Bulgarian MEP who led the negotiations, during a January debate.
The reforms are expected to take effect by the end of 2027. Here’s what changes.
What Stays the Same
The three-hour delay threshold for compensation survives intact, along with the compensation amounts: €250 to €600 (roughly $292 to $702) depending on flight distance and delay length. Airlines are still required to provide food, drink, hotel accommodation, and transportation when a long delay or cancellation forces an overnight stay.
No More Hidden Carry-On Fees
Every passenger is now guaranteed one free personal item measuring up to 40x30x15 cm, about 16x12x6 inches. Some headlines have framed this as “free hand luggage,” but that’s not quite accurate. Airlines still aren’t required to include a larger carry-on bag for free. What changes is transparency: airlines and booking platforms must now display, by default, a fare that includes the personal item allowance from the start of the booking process, making it far easier to compare prices across airlines without get blindsided by add-ons later.
Families and Vulnerable Travelers Get Real Seating Guarantees
Children under 14 must now be seated next to an accompanying adult at no extra charge. The same protection extends to anyone accompanying a passenger with a disability, reduced mobility, or a pregnancy. No more paying a premium just to sit next to your own child.
The End of Petty Administrative Fees
This is where the reform gets satisfying. Airlines can no longer charge passengers to correct a simple booking error, like a misspelled name. They also can’t charge for a printed boarding pass if a passenger has already checked in, and they can’t deny boarding to someone who printed their own copy of a digital boarding pass.
Perhaps most significantly, the reform bans the widely criticized “no-show clause,” the practice that allowed airlines to cancel a passenger’s entire return flight, or charge extra to use it, simply because they missed the outbound leg.
Faster Answers, Shorter Windows
Airlines will now have to notify passengers within 96 hours of a disruption, giving clear instructions on how to file a compensation claim, and they’ll have 30 days to pay out or explain a rejection. The rules also define a clearer list of “extraordinary circumstances” (severe weather, war, unruly passengers, strikes) under which compensation isn’t owed.
There’s one trade-off worth flagging: the new rules cut the window for starting a claim down to nine months. In some countries, travelers previously had up to six years under national law. Anyone with an unresolved claim under the current system should be aware this deadline is tightening.
What It Means Going Forward
Unbundling isn’t going away. Airlines will still find plenty of ways to sell extras. But European regulators have now drawn a much clearer line between what’s a legitimate optional charge and what should simply be included in the price of a ticket, and they held that line against sustained industry pressure. For American travelers who’ve grown used to shrinking baggage allowances and rising fees at home, EU261’s expanded protections are one more reason flying to and around Europe remains meaningfully more consumer-friendly.
Amanda O’Brien is the creator and editor of The Boutique Adventurer. She has visited 80 countries and is a member of the British Guild of Travel Writers as well as the IFTWTA. She is passionate about wine had has just completed Level 3 of the WSET. Born in Australia, she lives in London.