Two passengers who decided not to take a delayed flight operated by the airline Laudamotion, which operates on behalf of its parent company Ryanair, are not entitled to fixed compensation, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled.
The judgments of the Court of Justice of the EU are related to the cases C-474/22 and C-54/23.
The Court of Justice of the EU has ruled that passengers who did not present themselves for boarding a flight which arrived with a long delay or who purchased a ticket for an alternative flight and arrived at the destination with a delay of less than three hours “do not qualify for a fixed compensation.”
An announcement related to a delay of more than three hours was made by Laudamotion with respect to two flights from Düsseldorf to Palma de Mallorca. Following the announcement, two passengers decided not to take their flights on which they had a reservation amid fears of missing a business meeting.
The first passenger’s flight had a delay of 3 hours and 32 minutes. At the same time, the second passenger booked another flight and arrived at the destination with a delay of less than three hours related to the original flight’s scheduled arrival time.
The first passenger handed over his rights to the legal assistance company flightright. Both flightrights, as well as the second passenger, have brought legal action against Laudamotion in German courts in order to get the fixed compensation of €250. This compensation is claimed by any passenger in case of a flight delay of three hours or more beyond the originally scheduled arrival time under the Air Passenger Rights Regulation.
As a result, the German Federal Court of Justice has sought clarification from the Court of Justice of the EU. The German Federal Court of Justice wants to know if a passenger can still claim compensation when a flight will likely be delayed by at least three hours beyond the originally scheduled arrival time, but the passenger either didn’t check in or independently booked an alternative flight, arriving at the destination with a delay of less than three hours.
According to the Court of Justice, neither of those situations grants a right to fixed compensation. It recalls its case-law 2, according to which passengers whose flights are delayed are, for the purposes of the application of the right to compensation, treated as passengers whose flights are cancelled where the delay is equal to or in excess of three hours.
The Court has emphasised that the key reason for this approach is that passengers face a long delay, like those facing flight cancellations, suffer damage in the form of an irreversible loss of time equal to or in excess of three hours.
An air passenger who chose not to take a flight for which he or she had a confirmed reservation and who, owing to an alternative flight on which that person booked a seat independently, arrived at the final destination with a delay of less than three hours after the originally scheduled arrival time, also has not suffered a loss of time conferring entitlement to fixed compensation.
The Court notes that the Rights Regulation aims to address the ‘serious trouble and inconvenience’ suffered by passengers in the context of a flight.
