After more than a decade of negotiations, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament have reached an agreement to preserve passengers’ rights to free cabin baggage and financial compensation for flight delays, according to media reports.

Airlines have repeatedly warned that tightening compensation rules and increasing financial obligations would inevitably lead to higher ticket prices. Nevertheless, European lawmakers opted to maintain the current level of passenger protection.

Under the updated rules, travelers will continue to be entitled to financial compensation if their flight is delayed by at least three hours. The European Parliament strongly supported keeping this threshold, despite resistance from several EU member states.

“The amount of compensation remains the same as it has been for airlines for nearly 20 years. This ensures predictability,” one senior EU diplomat told reporters.

Currently, passengers in the European Union can claim between €250 and €600 if their flight is canceled or delayed by more than three hours. The revised regulation specifies that for flights longer than 3,500 kilometers, airlines will pay €300 in cases of significant delay, and €600 if the delay exceeds four hours or the flight is canceled.

In addition, the new framework effectively puts an end to extra charges for cabin baggage — a practice widely used by low-cost carriers.

Passengers will now have the right to bring on board, free of charge, one personal item measuring up to 40×30×15 centimeters, as well as a small wheeled cabin bag with total dimensions not exceeding 100 centimeters and a maximum weight of 7 kilograms.

Once the new rules come into force in 2027, airlines will be required to include both the personal item and the larger cabin bag in the standard ticket price.

This change may lead to a moderate increase in base fares, particularly among budget airlines that currently generate additional revenue by charging for overhead cabin space. At the same time, passengers traveling without larger carry-on luggage will be able to opt out of this service and purchase a lower-priced ticket.

Consumer protection organizations have long argued that charging for cabin baggage — especially by certain low-cost carriers — is unlawful, and that passengers must retain guaranteed rights to compensation in cases of lengthy delays.

Despite this, in recent months several airlines have moved to introduce or expand fees for carry-on baggage, citing financial strain caused by a sharp rise in aviation fuel prices linked to instability in the Middle East.

The agreement was reached on Friday between EU member state ambassadors and the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, currently held by Cyprus until the end of June. The European Parliament is expected to formally confirm the agreement and submit a joint letter of support, completing the legislative process.

The negotiations have spanned more than ten years.

The revision of European passenger rights legislation began back in 2013.

In the years that followed, lawmakers pushed to broaden baggage rights and strengthen protections in cases of airline bankruptcy. However, several EU governments and representatives of the aviation industry opposed such measures.

Lithuanian Member of the European Parliament Virginijus Sinkevičius from the Greens noted that the passenger rights law adopted in 2004 “was simply not designed” for today’s rapidly expanding aviation market. He pointed out:

“At that time, Ryanair carried around 23 million passengers annually. By 2024, that number had surpassed 183 million — nearly eight times more. Wizz Air did not even exist back then, and EasyJet was still a niche operator. Today, low-cost airlines dominate intra-European air travel and have built their business models around unbundling services that were once standard and charging separately for each of them.”

An EU diplomat echoed this view, stating that the “old rules no longer met expectations,” and that updating the legislation had become a necessity rather than a choice.

During earlier stages of the negotiations, some member states proposed raising the minimum delay threshold for compensation from three to four hours. This idea faced opposition from several countries that favored maintaining stronger passenger protections.

Airlines, meanwhile, had lobbied over the past decade for more substantial changes. They argued that compensation should only apply to delays of at least five hours, citing operational challenges and warning that stricter rules could incentivize carriers to cancel flights rather than risk penalties.

Industry representatives also claimed that additional obligations under the proposed law could weaken airlines’ competitiveness. They emphasized that many delays are caused by factors beyond carriers’ control, such as airport technical issues.

In the end, however, the European Parliament upheld its position: the existing three-hour delay threshold for passenger compensation remains unchanged.