EU preserves €600 flight delay payouts

You know the routine. A flight delayed four hours, compensation rules you vaguely remember exist, and an airline website designed to make sure you never file the claim. On 15 June, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU (where member-state governments negotiate legislation) broke a 13-year deadlock over exactly these frustrations, preserving passenger compensation of €250 to €600 for flights that arrive more than three hours late, get cancelled at short notice, or when boarding is denied (European Parliament, Reuters via MarketScreener). The deal survived over a decade of airline lobbying to weaken it.

How airlines nearly killed the €600 tier

The Commission first proposed updating the rules in 2013. For over a decade, airlines and sympathetic governments pushed to raise the delay threshold from three hours to four or even six, a change that according to FAZ could have wiped out nearly two-thirds of compensation payouts. In the final stretch, Germany and France floated a compromise to flatten all payouts to a single €250 tier, eliminating the €600 long-haul band (Euronews).

Parliament refused. Its earlier position passed 632 to 15, and the conciliation committee (the EU's last-resort negotiation when Parliament and Council cannot agree) produced a text keeping the three-hour trigger and existing payment tiers intact (Tagesschau). Airlines argue the roughly €8.1 billion per year they pay in EU261 compensation is unsustainable (Travel Tomorrow). Consumer groups counter that only a fraction of eligible passengers ever claim, because the process is opaque and airlines have no incentive to simplify it (Consumentenbond).

Where it hits Ryanair and Wizz Air

The new rules target the revenue architecture of low-cost carriers. Families with children under 14 gain the right to seat an accompanying adult next to the child without paying a separate fee (RTE). That takes direct aim at Ryanair's model, which requires a parent to buy a reserved seat before children can sit nearby. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority opened an enforcement case into this practice on 10 June (UK CMA, Bloomberg).

Airlines would also have to send disrupted passengers clear claim instructions within four days, stop charging for minor name corrections, and drop requirements forcing travellers to download specific apps just to receive a boarding pass (European Parliament, Tagesschau). In Hungary, the same friction showed up in June: passengers on a Wizz Air flight from Spain were charged €72–€73 for bags that reportedly fit the airline's measuring frame (444.hu).

The baggage compromise nobody loves

Parliament conceded on the point that matters most to budget travellers: the overhead cabin bag is not legally free. The deal protects only the smaller personal item under the seat. For the larger trolley, airlines must display a fare that includes it at the start of booking but can still offer a cheaper ticket without one (European Parliament, Cadena SER). Spain voted against the deal for this reason, arguing it failed to guarantee free overhead luggage (Europa Press). The Commission has an open procedure against Madrid over €179 million in fines it imposed on low-cost carriers for baggage charges, arguing the penalties may conflict with airlines' pricing freedom (Brussels Signal).

The 2027 enforcement gap

The text still needs a July plenary vote in Parliament and formal Council sign-off after legal-linguistic review. Application is expected in 2027 at the earliest (Euronews). The bigger vulnerability lies downstream. Compensation amounts have not been adjusted for inflation in over two decades. Claim deadlines appear as 30 days in some accounts and 14 in others, suggesting the final wording is not yet locked (RTE, Connexion France). And the old weakness persists: rights written in Brussels mean little if national authorities won't force airlines to pay up. The political fight took 13 years. The enforcement fight may take longer.