A German district court has ruled against Lufthansa. A passenger was charged € 2,100 (around £ 2.300) for not flying his last leg to OSL (ex-EU flight). However, the passenger did not agree with Lufthansa's demand and sought advice from a law firm (Franz LLP).
As described in
the report on the firm's website the man had booked a trip with Lufthansa from Oslo via Frankfurt to North America (and also back). He started his journey in OSL, but on the way back he broke off his journey in Frankfurt and flew - on a separate Lufthansa reservation - on to Berlin. In a first hearing the court showed a trend to decide in the favour of the customer. Lufthansa then wanted to withdraw the lawsuit, however the passenger wanted a verdict. The
court ruled and declared the conditions of carriage partially ineffective. The passenger does not have to pay.
The judgement is not yet final and Lufthansa can still appeal. However, according to lawyer Matthias Böse this is unlikely, as the terms and conditions show massive deficiencies. In an interview with German blog
travel-dealz.de he said: "The current decision has clarified that passengers under the previous conditions of carriage can at least forfeit flights at the end of a ticket without penalty."
This seems to be the first court ruling in such a case. It will be interesting to see how it finishes, as this would certainly effect other European carriers - and with this BA - as well. However, as stated, unlikely that Lufthansa appeals.