The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that an airline cannot avoid compensating passengers when a flight delay results from its own operational decision. The judgment clarifies the interpretation of European passenger rights legislation in cases involving delays linked to earlier flights.
The case concerns two passengers who sought compensation after their flight from Düsseldorf to Varna arrived more than three hours late.
Legal dispute before the German court
Two passengers filed legal action seeking compensation of €400 each under European Union legislation on air passenger rights.
The case was examined by the Düsseldorf District Court, which sought clarification from the Court of Justice of the European Union on whether an airline can rely on an “extraordinary circumstance” affecting a previous flight in a chain of consecutive routes in order to avoid paying compensation for a later delay.
Circumstances leading to the delay
The case centred on the airline European Air Charter and a flight from Düsseldorf to Varna that was delayed by more than three hours.
According to the facts presented, a previous flight in the sequence had been affected by exceptionally long waiting times at the security checkpoint of Cologne/Bonn Airport. The delays were attributed to an excessive workload for security staff, which caused passengers to arrive late for boarding.
European Air Charter decided to wait for those passengers, resulting in a departure delay of more than five hours.
The airline subsequently reorganised the following flights in the route chain, including the flight taken by the two passengers who brought the legal action. Those flights were operated using a replacement aircraft.
Interpretation of extraordinary circumstances
The Düsseldorf District Court referred preliminary questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union in order to determine whether the airline could rely on the extraordinary circumstance affecting the earlier flight.
The court ruled that the airline cannot rely on that circumstance when the delay of the subsequent flight is decisively caused by its own independent decision to wait for passengers from the previous flight.
According to the judgment, this applies when the decision was not required for the air carrier, including where there was no legal obligation to do so.
Assessment by the national court
The Court of Justice stated that it is for the Düsseldorf District Court to determine whether the airline’s decision was indeed not required under the circumstances.
The judgment also clarifies that an airline cannot justify its decision by invoking the interest of passengers from the earlier flight to travel within a reasonable time. The court stated that it is not for the airline itself to weigh the interests of different groups of passengers affected by delays.
Source: CNA