Bologna: Disrupted travel refunds are about to get simpler for passengers across the EU after Parliament approved new passenger-rights rules on 20 October by 652 votes to 2, with 8 abstentions. The near-unanimous vote endorsed a provisional agreement that gives travellers a standard form for claiming their money back, and it closes a gap that left people who booked through intermediaries waiting for months.
Under the agreement, the Commission will host the standard form online in all EU languages. Disrupted travel refunds are due in full within 14 days, and that deadline now applies when they booked through a travel agent or an online booking platform. The earlier legislation did not clearly cover intermediaries, so airlines and sellers often pointed at each other. If an intermediary fails to pay on time, the airline must pay the passenger. Parliament’s own briefing notes that the common compensation form covers air, sea and bus travel, but not rail.
Italian Socialist MEP Matteo Ricci, who led the file for Parliament, framed the result as a choice about priorities. He said: “We are prioritising the rights of our citizens over the profits of airlines.” The text on disrupted travel refunds also strengthens national enforcement bodies, and it clarifies the obligations of intermediaries that sell air tickets.
Passengers with disabilities gain a further protection. They may travel with a companion on a flight at no charge where needed, a right that already applies on buses, trains and ships. For travellers who depend on assistance, the cost of a second ticket has long been a barrier, so the change matters in practice.
The new rules build on a broader overhaul of air passenger rights that Parliament adopted in July 2026. That overhaul made refunds easier to obtain and requires airlines to include one free hand-luggage item in fares shown online. Together, the two measures aim to make prices more transparent and to speed up disrupted travel refunds when a flight is cancelled or a ferry sails late.
The benefits of the new disrupted travel refunds depend on how well the form works. A single document in every language should cut the back-and-forth that discourages claims, but consumer groups will watch whether airlines and platforms process requests inside the 14-day limit. Enforcement bodies now have clearer powers, yet they will need staff and cross-border cooperation to use them. In a holiday market where one disrupted journey can involve an airline, a booking site and a payment provider, a clear chain of responsibility is the real prize.
Under the ordinary legislative procedure, formal adoption by the Council is the remaining step before the rules take effect. Once they apply, travellers who face a cancelled flight, a missed connection or a cancelled sailing will have one place to start, and disrupted travel refunds should arrive faster than they do today.
