Filenews 22 April 2021
"Redirecting a single flight to another nearby airport does not give rise to a right to flat-rate compensation", the Court of Justice of the EU (WEA) ruled today, specifying that, on the contrary, "the airline must, on its own initiative, offer the passenger the cost of transport to the airport of destination for which the reservation was made or, where appropriate, with the agreement of the passenger , to another nearby destination".
In detail, the WEU ruled in a case referred to it by the Landesgericht Korneuburg (Court of First Instance of Korneuburg, Austria) concerning an Austrian passenger who landed in Schönefeld instead of the Tegel in Berlin,
Whereas "the redirection of a flight to another airport serving the same city or region does not give rise to the passenger's right to compensation for cancellation of the flight."
"In order for the substitution airport to be considered to serve the same city or region, it does not have to be within the boundaries of the territory (administratively) of the same city or region where the airport for which the reservation was made is located. What is crucial is its immediate proximity to this territory," he clarifies.
On the other hand, the WEE considers that "the passenger is in principle entitled to flat-rate compensation when he arrives at his final destination, i.e. at the airport for which the reservation was made or, with his agreement, at another nearby destination, three or more hours after the originally scheduled time of arrival".
"In order to determine the duration of the delay on arrival, the time at which the passenger arrives, following transport, at the airport for which the reservation was made or, where appropriate, at another nearby destination agreed with the airline shall be taken as the basis," the WEE shall state.
The WEU states in this context that, "in order to relieve itself of its obligation to compensate passengers in the event of a long flight delay on arrival, the airline may rely on an exceptional circumstance which did not affect the specific flight delayed, but a previous flight carried out by itself with the same aircraft on the route preceding the penultimate service of the aircraft. , provided that there is a direct causal link between the occurrence of this circumstance and the long delay of the subsequent flight."
In addition, the WEE concludes that "the airline must offer, on its own initiative, cover the cost of transport to the airport of destination for which the reservation was made or, where appropriate, with the consent of the passenger, to another nearby destination".
"If the airline violates its obligation to bear these costs, the passenger is entitled to be reimbursed the amount he has spent which, taking into account the specific circumstances of each case, proves necessary, appropriate and reasonable in order to make up for the airline's omission," the WEE says. "On the other hand, in the event of a breach of the obligation to take over transport costs, the passenger does not establish a right to flat-rate compensation of EUR 250, 400 or 600," he explains.
Source: Eyenews/CYP
