EU261 reform: what changed, and what UK261 didn't

If you read somewhere that EU flight compensation was about to get harder to claim, that 3 hours of delay would no longer be enough and you would be sitting in the terminal for 4 or 6 hours before a payout kicked in: that proposal lost.

The reform of Regulation 261/2004 is finished. The threshold survived it. So did the money. Here is what actually changed, when it takes effect, and which set of rules covers the flight you are thinking about.

The threshold push failed

The reform went through in three steps: political agreement on 15 June 2026, a European Parliament vote on 7 July (646 votes to 12), and final Council clearance on 13 July 2026.

Airlines spent years lobbying to move the compensation trigger from 3 hours to 4 or 6 depending on distance. Parliament kept 3 hours. The compensation bands stayed exactly where they were too: €250, €400 and €600 by distance. Nothing about what you are owed for a delayed EU-departing flight got smaller.

One thing to be clear about: none of the reform is live yet. The new regulation applies roughly 12 months after it is published in the Official Journal, so around mid-2027. A flight disrupted this week runs on today's rules, and nothing below is retroactive.

Which regime covers your flight

Brexit split this into two regulations that look almost identical and are not the same law. EU261 is EU law. UK261 is the separate GB version, and the July reform does not touch it at all.

UK261 covers:

• Any flight departing a UK airport, on any airline
• Flights arriving in the UK on a UK or EU airline
• Flights arriving in the EU on a UK airline

EU261 covers flights departing an EU airport on any airline, plus flights arriving in the EU on an EU airline.

So Manchester to Málaga on a UK carrier is a UK261 claim in sterling. Málaga to Manchester is an EU departure, so EU261 in euros. Our flight compensation calculator works out which one applies to your route and what the figure is, including the rule that can halve a long-haul payout when the airline reroutes you and your actual arrival delay stays under the threshold. That rule catches people out constantly, so check it rather than assuming the headline number.

If the UK ever mirrors the EU changes, it needs its own legislation on its own timetable. Until then, GB rules are unchanged.

What genuinely improves from mid-2027

The amounts held. What got better is the process, and mostly on the parts airlines have been quietly relying on:

• The airline has to come to you. Within 96 hours of the disruption it must contact you electronically with your rights and how to claim. Today, most passengers never learn they had a claim at all.
• One standard claim form across the EU, instead of every airline designing its own obstacle course.
• A 9-month window to claim, replacing a patchwork of national time limits that varied wildly depending on which country you happened to be flying from.
• 30 days to pay or explain. The airline must acknowledge your claim and respond within 30 days.
• "Extraordinary circumstances" gets a published list. The airline's favourite refusal reason has been fought case by case for two decades. The Commission will publish and maintain an actual list of what counts.
• No-show cancellations banned. Miss the outbound leg and the airline can no longer void your return flight.
• Hand baggage prices shown upfront, not discovered at the gate.

What to do about a flight disrupted today

None of the above helps a flight that went wrong this month. Today's route is unchanged, and it still works:

1. Get the number. The flight compensation calculator tells you the amount and which regulation applies.
2. Claim with the airline in writing. Our guide on getting a flight refund or compensation covers the wording and the evidence to attach.
3. Refused or ignored? Escalate to the airline's ADR scheme. The aviation ADR guide explains which scheme covers which carrier and what a deadlock letter looks like.
4. Still stuck? A letter before action, then CEDR or MCOL is the step airlines actually respond to.

You never have to hand a third of it to a claims firm to do any of that. Start your complaint and NoReply drafts the letter with the right regulation cited and the right deadline on it.