Planning a budget flight in Europe this spring and wondering if you can finally stop paying for a carry-on? Not yet. The European Parliament's transport committee backed a position in June 2025 that would guarantee every passenger a free cabin bag of up to 7 kg (about 100 cm total dimensions) plus a personal item of 40 x 30 x 15 cm, per the Parliament's own materials — but the reform of the EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation is still in negotiation between Parliament and Council, and until it passes, each airline's own policy rules your flight.
Daily News Voyage publishes information, not legal advice; what follows is the state of play as of April 2026.
Where did this come from?
Years of disputes over whether airlines may charge for any cabin bag at all — a question litigated around the 2014 Vueling case and renewed complaints against budget carriers — pushed the European Commission to propose an overhaul of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation. In June 2025, the Parliament's transport committee voted to write the free-bag guarantee directly into the law: one cabin bag up to 7 kg and one personal item under the seat, with refusal allowed only for genuine safety reasons.
What does that mean for a flight you book this month?
Nothing changes at the gate. Budget carriers still set their own allowances — a small under-seat bag free, larger cabin bags and checked luggage priced per fare. If you are flying in April or May 2026, measure against the airline's published sizer, not against the Parliament's proposal, or you will be paying a gate fee that the future law might have made unnecessary.
What else is in the passenger-rights overhaul?
The package under negotiation also revises delay compensation — including the long-debated three-hour threshold for claiming on flights over 3,500 km — and adds rules on missed connections, seating fees for families with children, and refund timelines. Those pieces move together with the bag guarantee, which is why the file is taking time: the Council has pushed back on costs for airlines.
When would it actually take effect?
No date exists yet. After Parliament and Council agree a final text, there is the usual application lead time — historically around two years for passenger-rights changes. A realistic reading as of April 2026: the guarantee is directionally likely, undated in practice, and not something to build a packing strategy around yet.
The practical takeaway
Book with the rules that exist today: check the specific fare's cabin-bag allowance before you pay, screenshot it, and pack to the sizer. The 7 kg free carry-on is coming — eventually — but the gate agent in April 2026 has never heard of it.
