The European Parliament has adopted a comprehensive revision of the European Air Passenger Rights Regulation (EC) No. 261. With a clear majority of 646 votes in favor and 12 against, MEPs voted for the new regulations, which were concluded after more than ten years of negotiations.
While the core structure of the regulation regarding the compensation amounts of 250 to 600 euros and the applicable three-hour threshold for delays remain unchanged, the decision contains a profound change for legal enforcement: The deadline for asserting compensation claims is reduced to a uniform nine months across the EU.
Until now, national limitation periods varied considerably across EU member states, allowing for retroactive claims of up to three years in countries like Germany and Austria, and even up to five years in other countries. Industry representatives and passenger rights portals like AirHelp predict significant losses for consumers as a result of the new regulations. Since many passengers often only file compensation claims months or years after a flight disruption, preliminary estimates suggest that up to 18 million older, unclaimed claims across Europe could expire once the regulation is expected to come into force in the second half of 2027.
Legal experts and consumer advocates are also criticizing significant gaps in the transitional provisions of the adopted reform. The final legal text currently leaves open whether and in what form the shortened nine-month period will also apply to flights that took place before the amendment officially came into force. This legal ambiguity harbors considerable potential for disputes between airlines and passengers, as airlines could attempt to dismiss older claims by invoking the new regulation. Experts therefore expect a wave of test cases before the European Court of Justice to clarify the protection of consumers' legitimate expectations.
The aviation industry, in turn, views the standardization of deadlines as a necessary step toward increasing planning certainty. During negotiations, airline associations had initially demanded even more extensive relaxations, including raising the delay threshold to five hours and capping maximum compensation payments. The now-agreed reduction in deadlines significantly relieves airlines' balance sheets of long-term provisions for potential compensation claims, but shifts the risk and the pressure to act entirely onto the end consumer.