Cancelled flights booked through websites will get a 14-day refund deadline. Credit: Unai Huizi Photography / Shutterstock
You book a flight through a travel website, the airline cancels, and then weeks go by while the two blame each other over who owes you the money. Members of the European Parliament have now voted to put a 14-day clock on that row, though the new rules won’t bite until October 2027.
Refunds from booking sites get a 14-day deadline
Passengers who buy a flight through a travel agent or online booking platform will be entitled to a full refund within 14 days if it’s cancelled, with the website’s own fee included, according to the vote.
The deadline is split in two. The airline has seven days to pay the website, and the website then has seven days to pay the passenger. Booking sites will also have to explain how refunds work at the moment you buy, so you’ll know the rules before you hand over any money.
Reports on the vote add that if the website fails to pay on time, the airline will have to refund the passenger itself. That matters for anyone flying out of any big Spanish airports such as Málaga, Alicante or Palma on a ticket bought through a third-party site, as it should end the weeks of emails bouncing between the two.
Companions of disabled passengers will fly free
Passengers with disabilities or reduced mobility will be able to travel with a companion at no charge when that person’s presence is necessary. Bus, train and ferry passengers already have this right, so flying is catching up.
However, it doesn’t mean anyone travelling with a disabled passenger flies for free. Airlines can ask for more details about the help someone needs and check it, and the free ticket is for a companion who is genuinely required.
One claim form, in your own language
Passengers will be able to claim refunds and compensation using a standard EU form, published on the European Commission’s website in every official EU language. Airlines can still offer their own form, as long as it’s equivalent.
National authorities will also get stronger powers to start audits, inspections and interviews with airlines on their own initiative, instead of waiting for passengers to complain first. Parliament says EU passenger rights cover about 13 billion journeys a year by plane, train, coach, bus and ferry. Italian MEP Matteo Ricci, who led the legislation through Parliament, said lawmakers are putting citizens’ rights ahead of airline profits.
This isn’t the same law as July’s flight rights overhaul
It’s easy to mix this up with the separate rewrite of air passenger rights that EU governments cleared in July, so it’s worth keeping the two apart. That earlier law keeps the three-hour delay threshold, with compensation of €250, €400 or €600 depending on the distance flown.
It also bans airlines from refusing a return flight to passengers who skipped the outbound leg, and requires fares to show one piece of hand baggage from the start of booking. Airlines will have to tell affected passengers how to claim within 96 hours of a disruption, the Commission says.
Families should also be able to sit together, with a free adjacent seat for children under 14. Passengers will then have nine months to claim, while airlines get 30 days to pay or explain why they won’t.
The October vote adds the refund, companion and enforcement rules on top, and Parliament says they’re due to apply from the same date. Flights leaving Spain are covered, along with flights into the EU on EU airlines, a scope the Commission says is unchanged.
Which rules apply depends on where you fly from
Picture a cancelled Alicante to Manchester flight that was booked through an online travel site. Under the new rules the refund, fee included, should land within 14 days of the cancellation, rather than leaving you to chase two companies at once.
Flights from the UK to Spain are a different story, because UK rules cover every flight leaving a British airport, whichever airline operates it. Those rules, which have been separate from the EU’s since Brexit, say a cancelled flight must be refunded within seven days, and that delays of more than three hours can earn £220, £350 or £520 depending on the distance flown.
However, the UK government’s passenger rights summary doesn’t set out a seven-day-then-seven-day split for tickets bought through a website, so the new EU refund chain won’t automatically cover a flight that only falls under UK rules. Some routes can fall under both sets of rules, though you can’t be paid twice for the same disruption. That’s why it’s worth checking which airline operated the flight, and where it was leaving from, before you start any claim.
Nothing changes before October 2027
The Council of the EU must still formally approve the regulation, and it then has to be published in the EU’s Official Journal. The rules are due to apply from October 23, 2027.
Until then the current rules stay in force. If a flight is cancelled in the meantime, keep every booking confirmation and note whether you bought from the airline or through a website, because the new refund chain only applies to the second.