The right of air passengers to compensation for long delays applies to direct connecting flights consisting of several flights operated by different operating air carriers
If these flights were arranged by a travel agency which invoiced a total price and issued a single ticket, the fact that there is no legal relationship between the carriers is irrelevant.
A passenger purchased, through a travel agent, an electronic airline ticket for 25 July 2018, for a journey from Stuttgart to Kansas City consisting of three flights. The first flight from Stuttgart to Zurich was operated by Swiss International Air Lines, while the two flights from Zurich to Philadelphia and Philadelphia to Kansas City, respectively, were operated by American Airlines. The e-ticket number appeared on the boarding passes of those flights. Moreover, that ticket designated American Airlines as the service provider and contained a unique reservation number for the entire route. Moreover, the travel agency issued an invoice which contained a single price for the whole of that route, as well as for the return flight. While the respective flights from Stuttgart to Zurich and Zurich to Philadelphia were on schedule, the flight from Philadelphia to Kansas City was delayed by more than four hours on arrival.
Compensation of EUR 600 from American Airlines under Regulation No 261/2004
Flightright, an air passenger legal aid company to which the rights arising from the delay were assigned, applied to the German courts for compensation of EUR 600 from American Airlines under Regulation No 261/2004 on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of a flight. The German Supreme Civil and Criminal Court, before which the case has been brought, asks the Court of Justice to interpret certain points of that regulation.
In its judgment delivered today, the Court held that the concept of ‘directly connecting flight’ covers a transport operation from a Member State comprising several flights operated by different operating air carriers, where those carriers are not linked by any specific legal relationship, if those flights have been arranged by a travel agent who has invoiced a total price and issued a single ticket for that operation.
Single reservation
The Court recalls that the concept of ‘directly connecting flight’ must be understood as meaning that it presupposes the existence of two or more flights which form a whole for the purposes of the right to compensation for passengers laid down in Regulation No 261/2004. That is the case where two or more flights are the subject of a single reservation. In the present case, it appears that the passenger was in possession of a ticket which constitutes proof that the booking for the entire journey from Stuttgart to Kansas City was accepted and registered by a tour operator. That transport operation must be regarded as being based on a single booking and therefore as constituting a “direct connecting flight’.
The flights making up the direct connecting flight were operated by separate air carriers – Swiss International Air Lines and American Airlines – which have no legal relationship. The Court considers that nothing in the regulation on compensation and assistance to air passengers makes the classification of a flight as a directly connecting flight subject to the existence of a specific legal relationship between the air carriers responsible for operating the flights of which it is composed. Such an additional requirement would be contrary to the objective of ensuring a high level of protection for passengers, in so far as it could limit their right to compensation in the event of a long delay to their flight.
