If in the last few days you have read that the European Union has changed the rules for those who fly, the news is true, but with a fundamental clarification that risks being lost in the transition from regulations to social media: the new provisions do not apply from today. European Regulation 2026/2202 was published in the Official Journal of the Union on 2 October 2026, it will formally enter into force on 22 October, but will only become applicable from 23 October 2027. Until then, the current rules and, especially with regards to baggage and fares, the conditions established by the individual companies continue to apply.
However, it is an important reform, because for the first time in over twenty years it puts a hand on the system built around Regulation 261/2004 and closes a negotiation that began in 2013, after thirteen years of negotiations between the European institutions. Many rights that had been defined over the years by the rulings of the Court of Justice are now written directly into legislation, while new and much more detailed rules arrive on baggage, digital tickets, connections and assistance.
The personal bag will be free. The trolley doesn’t, at least not necessarily
It is probably the innovation destined to have the most immediate impact on travellers, especially those who use low cost airlines. From 23 October 2027 every passenger will have the right to carry in the cabin a personal item without surchargethen a bag or a small backpack, up to 40 x 30 x 15 centimetres or, even with different dimensions, as long as it can be placed under the front seat.
Be careful with the word “baggage” though, because this is where many titles become misleading. The regulation distinguishes the personal object from the real one hand luggage from overhead binthe classic trolley: the latter will not necessarily become free. Companies will be able to continue to sell cheaper fares without trolleys, but they will have to show them at the time of the search as a default option the price which also includes hand luggageso that the traveler can immediately compare the real cost of different flights without only finding out on subsequent screens how much it costs to add a suitcase.
And there is another protection: if a baggage that the passenger has regularly purchased for the cabin must be sent to the hold because the overhead bins are full, for safety reasons or for a change of aircraft, no further payment may be requested. Furthermore, before purchasing, the number, dimensions and weight of luggage allowed must be clearly communicated.
No mandatory app to get your boarding pass
The reform also enters one of the areas on which companies have built part of their ancillary services in recent years. To get a digital boarding pass It cannot be mandatory to create an account or install the company’s application. After check-in the document must be accessible digitally without further mandatory steps.
You will also be able to use your own paper copy of a digitally issued boarding pass, as long as it is legible and usable by airport systems, and the simple fact of having printed it yourself cannot be a reason to deny boarding or ask for a supplement. Even more important: if the passenger has already checked in, the company will not be able to charge him for printing the boarding pass at the airport. This does not mean, however, that the regulation absolutely prohibits any costs related to airport check-in: the free payment provided for by the text specifically concerns the printing of the document after check-in has been completed.
Did you miss a letter in your name? A fix should be free
An “n” instead of two, a mistyped surname or a name updated due to an administrative change can no longer automatically transform into a new tariff worth tens or hundreds of euros. If the request is made at least 48 hours before the scheduled departurethe company must allow at least one spelling error correction or administrative update of the name free of charge.
Naturally, it will not be a system for transferring the ticket: the correction cannot be transformed into a change of passenger, nor can it be used to change the date, time or itinerary. The rule was created precisely to distinguish the clerical error from the transfer of the travel document.
Three hours late: compensation of up to 600 euros remains
On one of the most discussed points during the negotiations, the European Parliament obtained that the threshold was not raised. The right to compensation remains linked to a delay in arrival of more than three hoursnot four or six as had been hypothesized in some phases of the negotiation.
The amounts remain the ones now known: 250 euros for journeys up to 1,500 kilometres; 400 euros for intra-EU journeys exceeding 1,500 kilometers and for other journeys between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres; 600 euros in other cases, therefore in particular on longer routes. For journeys with connections the distance is calculated between the initial point of departure and the final destination.
However, it does not mean that any three-hour delay automatically triggers a transfer. The passenger must be entitled to compensation and submit the request; furthermore the company can be exonerated if it proves that the disservice was caused by extraordinary circumstancesthat there is a direct link between these and the problem that occurred and that it would not have been possible to avoid the inconvenience even by adopting all reasonable measures. The burden of proof, however, remains with the carrier.
There is also a peculiarity for the 600 euro range: under certain conditions the company will be able to reduce the sum by 50 percent, thus bringing it to 300 euros, if the arrival does not exceed the originally scheduled arrival time by more than four hours.
After five hours you can give up on the trip. And the refund must arrive within seven days
If the departure delay reaches five hoursthe company will have to offer the possibility of giving up the trip and obtaining a refund. In the event of cancellation, however, the passenger will have to choose between refund and rerouting, without the carrier being able to automatically push him towards one of the options.
The refund must be made by seven calendar days and will also include any brokerage commissions. If the routes already taken are no longer of any use with respect to the original travel plan, they may also be refunded and, when necessary, a return to the initial point of departure must be made. A voucher may be offered, but not imposed: the explicit consent of the passenger will be required.
If the company doesn’t protect you again, after three hours you can make do
It is one of the most interesting and least talked about news. When a passenger chooses to continue the journey and the company does not offer him re-routing in comparable conditions within three hoursyou will be able to independently obtain an alternative, even with another company or, when appropriate, with a different means of transport.
The carrier must then reimburse necessary, reasonable and appropriate expenses, up to a maximum limit of 400 percent of the total ticket price and any commissions. The passenger, of course, will have to inform the company of his decision and will not be able to choose disproportionately expensive solutions and then demand a refund.
Missing a connection will have clearer rules
The new rules also expressly regulate connections, as long as the flights are part of the same transport contract. If a problem on the first flight causes you to miss the next one, the company responsible for the previous flight will have to take care of re-routing and assistance. If you fail to offer a new solution within five hours of the scheduled time of the missed connection, you will also have to offer a refund.
If the traveler then arrives at the final destination more than three hours late, he will be entitled to the compensation provided for by the regulation. The case of so-called self-transfers, i.e. flights purchased through separate contracts: the seller must clarify before purchase that, in the event of a missed connection, the same protections may not apply.
Are you skipping the first leg? They will no longer be able to automatically cancel your return
It is the end, at least in the area covered by the regulation, of one of the most controversial practices in air transport. If there is a return trip, they are included in the same contractthe company will no longer be able to deny boarding on the return journey or ask for a supplement simply because the passenger did not use the outward flight.
The wording is important: it does not mean that a ticket can be used freely in any order or that all fare conditions linked to the segments disappear, but penalizing the passenger on the return journey is expressly prohibited for the sole reason of not having taken the outward journey.
More assistance while you wait: meals, hotels, Internet and even free charging
When the right to assistance is triggered, companies will have to offer it free of charge one refreshment for every two hours of waitingone meal after three hours and then every five hours, up to a maximum of three meals a day, plus Internet access and two phone calls. If it is necessary to spend one or more nights away from home, hotels and transfers will also be due.
Here, however, there is a less favorable novelty that is worth mentioning, because it often disappears from enthusiastic summaries of the reform: when the disservice derives from extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even by adopting all reasonable measures, the company will be able to limit the accommodation to a maximum of three nights. The limitation does not apply in the same way to passengers with specific assistance needs.
And at Union airports with commercial traffic they will have to be made available drinking water and free charging points for electronic devicesregardless of the time or terminal.
Families, disabilities and reduced mobility: you don’t pay for the next seat
The new system also strengthens protections for those traveling with special needs. Anyone accompanying a child under the age of 14 must be able to sit for free in an adjacent placeand the same principle is extended to the companions of people with disabilities or reduced mobility and, in the conditions provided for by the regulation, to other categories who require assistance.
People with disabilities or reduced mobility will also have priority for boarding together with any companions and recognized assistance dogs, while strollers and prams for children can be used up to the gate or the aircraft door at no additional cost, unless impediments related to safety or operations.
More difficult to ignore a compensation request
Finally, the reform tries to intervene on what is often the real problem for passengers: not so much knowing they have a right, but being able to have it recognised. When compensation may be due, the company will need to send by 96 hours from the end of the trip information on your entitlement and clear instructions for applying. The passenger will have nine months to request compensation and, after receiving the request, the carrier must within 30 days pay or formally explain why you believe payment is not due.
And this is probably the thread that holds together a reform made up of dozens of details: from 23 October 2027, delays will not disappear, all trolleys will not become free and every additional fee from airlines will not be cancelled, but it will become much more difficult to hide the real price of a flight, make a right dependent on an application, cancel a return because the outward journey was not used or leave the passenger for hours without knowing exactly what he is entitled to. After more than twenty years of low-cost flights, digital check-ins, supplements and European rulings, the real news is perhaps precisely this: the rules finally try to resemble the way we actually travel today.
