The other 21 member states voted in favor of the regulation at a meeting of EU transport ministers in Luxembourg last Thursday.

While political agreement was broadly reached, on the most controversial point – extending the compensation claim threshold – Estonia abstained, joined by Germany, Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Austria.

The regulation would extend the delay threshold from its current three hours to four or six hours, depending on a flight's length. It would also change the compensation tariff, also differentiating on the length of a flight here, with compensation for delays to shorter flights rising, but falling in the case of delays to longer flights.

Estonia abstained from the vote as it is seeking clarification on other aspects of the regulation relating to passenger rights, but did not want to block the regulation altogether – which voting against would have done.

Taivo Linnamägi, head of the aviation department at the Ministry of Climate, said: "For several countries, this was an insurmountable obstacle, and so opinions divided – some stood firm on the three-hour rule, while others were willing to compromise, by extending it from three to four hours."

"Estonia's main interest was to support passenger protection. The establishment of longer delay thresholds is a key issue for us, and we could not support it. For this reason we didn't cast a supporting vote," Linnamägi added.

Estonia would have gone along with the compromise, he noted.

The push for a longer threshold is because airlines are finding it difficult to arrange a replacement flight or crew at such short notice - within three hours.

For Estonia, it was very important to have clearly defined compensation and flight distances. Estonia did not support applying thresholds to flights over five hours. "This is a very principled issue for us, and one that is not really in passengers' interest," Linnamägi explained.

Several rules are becoming more exact and with a greater focus on passenger rights, Linnamägi added. For instance, under the new regulation, passengers would gain clearer rights in changing their carrier or route, meaning if a flight were canceled, they could ask to be rebooked on another airline's flight.

Linnamägi noted that the aspects on the right to assistance, the right to route changes and to information are further clarified before Estonia could vote in favor of the regulation.

"All these specific conditions in the regulation are strongly in favor of passengers, so voting against it would have meant opposing the entire regulation, which is not in the passengers' interest," he noted.

The European Commission first proposed a review of air passenger rights back in 2013, but it was only at a meeting in Luxembourg last week that the EU27 reached agreement on clarifying passenger rights, deciding that compensation for delayed flights will in future be paid after four hours' delay instead of the previous three hours.

Up to now, passengers could claim €250 in compensation for delays over three hours, regardless of distance. Going forward, passengers will only be eligible for compensation on short-haul flights (up to 3,500 kilometers) if the delay exceeds four hours; for long-haul flights, the threshold will be raised to six hours.

Transport ministers also agreed to boost compensation for delayed short-haul flights from €250 to €300, while cutting it for long-haul flights from €600 to €500.

The regulation must pass to the European Parliament. The parliament can approve the Council's position, amend it, or reject it altogether.

"From past experience, we know that amendments to the regulation will definitely be proposed, but how and in what form this process will proceed is, of course, difficult to predict today," Linnamägi added.

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