Anyone who has travelled on a delayed or cancelled flight in recent years could get money from two places: from the airline under the EU passenger rights regulation and – if their policy had such an element – from the delay cover of their travel insurance. The boundary between the two sources has caused a lot of misunderstanding so far, and now the legal side is moving too: on 7 July 2026 the European Parliament adopted the revision of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, which had dragged on for more than a decade, and the Council also voted for the text in July 2026. The new rules will not apply straight away, but more than a year after publication in the Official Journal of the EU – probably in 2027. As a broker, I see that some travellers mix up the two systems: they expect from the insurer something the airline should pay, or from the airline something that only insurance covers. This article looks at what remains the airline's obligation after the reform, what changes, and what travel insurance delay cover is for afterwards. The two channels that exist today are described in the article on delay cover.
- The revision of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 was adopted by the European Parliament on 7 July 2026 and by the Council in July 2026; the rules will apply 12 months and 20 days after publication, so probably in 2027 – the exact day depends on the date of publication in the Official Journal.
- The final text, as described in the press and in the Commission's announcement, keeps the three-hour delay threshold and the distance-based compensation of EUR 250–400–600, and brings new elements: more clearly defined extraordinary circumstances, claims guidance within 96 hours, automatic refunds and a free personal item on board.
- This does not make travel insurance delay cover redundant: it does not duplicate the airline's obligation but covers the gaps where the airline does not pay – delays due to extraordinary circumstances, consequential losses, flights outside the scope of the regulation – all in accordance with the policy conditions.
Where does the reform stand, and from when does it apply?
The European Commission proposed the revision back in 2013, Parliament adopted its first position in 2014, and the Council only reached its own general approach in June 2025 – it included a delay threshold of four hours, or six hours on longer journeys, and amended amounts. The two institutions agreed on the final text in June 2026; the Commission's announcement of 15 June 2026 welcomed it, calling it a landmark agreement. Parliament voted for it almost unanimously on 7 July 2026, and the Council – according to its own press release – gave its final approval on 13 July 2026. As for entry into force: according to the Council's press release, the new rules take effect 12 months and 20 days after publication in the Official Journal, which means that national authorities and airlines get a good year to prepare. The date of publication in the Official Journal was not yet known at the time of writing, so no exact calendar date can be given: if publication takes place by autumn 2026, the new regime can be expected in the second half of 2027, and until then the current rules apply.
What must the airline pay – today and after the reform?
Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, currently in force, grants rights in three situations: denied boarding, cancellation and long delay. The airline must provide care (meals, refreshments and, where necessary, accommodation and transfer), offer a choice between a refund of the ticket price and re-routing in the event of cancellation, and in specified cases pay flat-rate compensation depending on distance: EUR 250, 400 or 600. The three-hour delay threshold is not in the current text of the regulation; it was introduced by the case law of the Court of Justice of the EU; the airline is released from paying compensation if it proves that the cancellation or delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken; the duty of care, however, remains even then.
According to the final text as described in the press and in the Commission's announcement, the reform does not overturn this framework: it keeps the three-hour threshold for compensation and the EUR 250–400–600 distance bands, and on journeys longer than 3,500 kilometres – similarly to the current rule – it allows the compensation to be halved if the airline, by re-routing, gets the passenger to their destination within four hours of the scheduled arrival. The changes lie rather in the details: the scope of extraordinary circumstances will be clearer (the text cites natural disasters, war, extreme weather and disruptive passengers as examples); the rhythm of care will be fixed – according to press reports, refreshments every two hours, a meal every three hours and accommodation for longer delays; the airline must, within 96 hours, give clear guidance on how to claim; if the passenger chooses a refund instead of re-routing, this will, according to press reports, be automatic; boarding on the return flight cannot be refused because the passenger did not use the outbound flight; the ticket price must be shown as a price that includes hand luggage, and a small personal item can be taken on board free of charge; no fee may be charged for a child to sit next to a parent or for correcting a typo in a name. The exact wording will be given by the published text.
The gap the regulation will not fill, even after the reform
Passenger rights compensation is a flat rate: it does not look at how much loss the passenger has suffered, but at the distance and the length of the delay. It follows that the airline will still not pay for several typical losses. If the plane is delayed because of extraordinary circumstances – a storm, an airspace closure, a strike by public-authority staff – there is no compensation, only care. Accommodation nights lost because of the delay, a missed ship departure, an unused ski pass, the loss of a connection booked on a separate ticket, the interruption of a trip already under way: the regulation provides no reimbursement for these; at most you can pursue them further under the Montreal Convention – in court, subject to a liability limit. Nor is the scope of the regulation complete: it applies to flights departing from the EU with every airline, but to flights arriving in the EU only with EU airlines. These gaps are where travel insurance works: the delay cover, missed connection, trip interruption and baggage delay elements – each under its own policy conditions, with limits and a deductible.
What is travel insurance delay cover left for?
The delay element of Hungarian travel insurance conditions varies greatly from insurer to insurer, but the logic is similar: for a flight delay exceeding the threshold set in the policy conditions – typically several hours – or for a cancellation for a reason named in the policy conditions, it either pays a fixed amount or reimburses the necessary costs incurred abroad (meals, accommodation, the price difference for re-booking) up to a limit, against receipts. There are three reasons why it does not become redundant after the reform either. First: insurance delay cover typically does not ask whether the cause of the delay was “extraordinary” – if weather or strikes are not excluded in the policy conditions, it may also apply to a delay for which the airline pays no compensation; which policy conditions exclude what is examined in the force majeure article. Second: the regulation does not reimburse consequential losses, whereas the trip interruption or connection element of the insurance does, in accordance with the policy conditions. Third: on journeys outside the scope of the regulation – under the current scope, for example, on a domestic flight outside Europe or with a non-EU airline flying into the EU – only the insurance remains. One thing to watch, though: with cost-reimbursement covers, policy conditions typically exclude double reimbursement, i.e. whatever the airline has already provided as care or as a refund, the insurer will not pay again; and the relationship between the flat-rate compensation and a fixed-amount insurance delay benefit depends on the policy conditions – in some cases the two are paid side by side, in others the insurer deducts the part recovered from another source.
The order of the two channels in the event of a delay
- At the airport, ask the airline for written confirmation of the fact, length and cause of the delay or cancellation – this is the starting point for both channels; keep your boarding pass and ticket.
- Take the care the airline is obliged to provide; if it is not provided, collect the receipts, because the costs can be claimed afterwards from the airline and – in accordance with the policy conditions – from the insurer as well. A system for collecting documents is described in the receipts and documents article.
- Claim the compensation from the airline in writing; after the reform, you must receive guidance on this within 96 hours. If your claim is rejected, you can turn to the national enforcement body or to alternative dispute resolution – this is provided by the regulation, not by the insurance.
- Report the insurance claim on the insurer's claims line or online platform, within the deadline set in the policy conditions, together with the confirmation and the receipts.
- If the two channels get tangled – the insurer points to the airline, the airline cites extraordinary circumstances – I help where I can; the claim, however, is assessed by the insurer.
What is up to you: check whether the insurance you take out for the trip has a delay element at all, from how many hours it applies, whether it pays a fixed amount or reimburses costs, and what it says about amounts recovered from other sources. If you go through this before departure – or if you let me know and I also compare the delay element of the offers – then while waiting at the airport you only need to collect the confirmation and the receipts. The two systems will continue to exist side by side after the reform: the airline pays what the regulation obliges it to pay, and the insurer pays what is an insured event under your contract.
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Sources
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on air passenger rights (text in force, EUR-Lex)
- European Commission – Commission welcomes landmark agreement on revised air passenger rights (15 June 2026)
- Telex – After more than a decade of deadlock, the EP votes almost unanimously for the air passenger rights reform (7 July 2026)
- Council of the European Union – Council gives final clearance for stronger air passenger rights (press release, 13 July 2026)
- Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EC) No 261/2004 and (EC) No 2027/97 – adopted legislative text (Council register, ST 11389/2026 INIT)
- European Commission – Your Europe: air passenger rights
- Montreal Convention – Act VII of 2005
