Originally Posted by
Dave Noble
That the specific case in Spain was won, I do not see that it necessarily means that any time a passenger arrives at a gate before an aeroplane has departed is entitled.
My reading is that the court said "final boarding" status was the cut off. If you arrive at the gate during the "final boarding" stage then the airline made a mistake. The court didn't rule on the issue of aircraft departure. We can be reasonably sure IB mentioned the boarding pass timetable, but the CJEU mentioned final boarding rather than any other factor. In clause 34 the court implies the customer only needs to "present themselves in time to board the following flight". Note that IB offloaded them at 15:17 on a 16:05 departure.