Brussels Blocks Reduced Flight Payouts, Backing Portugal’s Flyers

Anyone who has queued at Humberto Delgado Airport only to watch the departure board flash "delayed" will feel a small victory in Brussels this week. Euro-MPs have decided they will not dilute the three-hour compensation rule, nor let airlines begin charging for every centimetre of cabin space. The battle is far from over, yet the early vote signals that, for now, the balance of power tilts back toward the travelling public.

Why it matters from Porto to Ponta Delgada

Summer after summer, flights linking mainland Portugal to the Azores, Madeira or the rest of Europe rank among the most disruption-prone in the bloc. Lisbon’s congested runway, Atlantic weather fronts and a patchy local network mean that Portuguese passengers file thousands of EU261 claims each year. Under existing law they may pocket up to €600 when a delay stretches beyond three hours. If the Council of the EU had its way, that threshold would rise to six hours for long-haul trips—wiping out roughly half the payouts Portuguese consumers currently win, according to consumer group Deco Proteste.

Parliament digs in: keep the 3-hour rule

By 34 votes to two, the European Parliament’s Transport and Tourism Committee rejected the Council’s proposal. Lawmakers insisted that the three-hour limit, fixed by the Court of Justice in the Sturgeon line of cases, already strikes a fair balance. They also demanded a single, EU-wide claim form delivered automatically to passengers within 48 hours of a disruption, giving travelers up to one year to lodge complaints. Compensation would still scale with distance—€300 for short hops such as Lisbon-Madrid, €600 for seven-hour treks like Porto-New York—but the right to claim would kick in at the same three-hour mark everywhere.

Baggage fees: the coming clash over cabin space

Low-cost carriers operating out of Faro and Lisbon have tested how far they can go in charging for hand luggage. Ryanair’s one-backpack policy is now a blueprint many rivals want to copy. MEPs fired back, writing into their text the right to carry one personal item plus a seven-kilo cabin bag, free of charge. The move leans on the 2014 Vueling ruling, which treated cabin bags as an essential part of air travel so long as they meet reasonable size limits. Should the Parliament’s position survive negotiations, Portuguese tourists on weekend getaways could see an end to the €30 last-minute fee that too often ambushes them at the gate.

Airlines cry cost, consumers cry foul

Industry lobbies A4E and IATA warn the current framework already drains up to €8 B a year from carriers and that keeping the three-hour rule will push fares higher. They argue most delays stem from air-traffic control bottlenecks, storms or airport staffing—issues beyond an airline’s control. Consumer organisations, led by BEUC and Portugal’s own Deco Proteste, counter that payouts average €1 per ticket sold and serve as the only realistic deterrent against poor performance. They also back a closed list of “extraordinary circumstances” that would free airlines from liability—war, volcanic ash, hurricanes—while explicitly excluding crew strikes, a sticking point in past TAP disputes.

What happens next in Brussels—and at the gate

Transport ministers, including Portugal’s, meet again in December to craft a compromise. If no middle ground emerges, the file could spill into the next EU mandate, freezing any rule changes until 2027. For now, passengers heading home for Christmas can still bank on the familiar three-hour benchmark and pack a small trolley without extra cost. Yet holidaymakers would be wise to keep boarding passes, note actual arrival times and file claims quickly; the legislative dogfight in Brussels is proof that, in air travel, rights only stay intact when exercised.