Dusseldorf Region Court: EW must rebook passengers on other airlines
#1
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 445
Dusseldorf Region Court: EW must rebook passengers on other airlines
Good news for (EW-) passengers:
In a recent judgement dated September 4, 2019, the Duesseldorf Regional Court clarified the situation: If, after cancellation, a passenger requests the next possible flight in accordance with Art. 8 Para. 1 lit. b of the Regulation 261/2004/EC, he is also entitled to a flight with another airline.
In this case, a 11 a.m. flight was cancelled and other flights in the earlier morning and for 5:xx p.m. were offered. A LH flight )9was available at 11 am. EW refused to rebook for the EW flight.
Unfortunately, this question has been answered differently in parts of the case-law, including the first instance court in this case.
More details on the case and the full text of the decision can be found in German at https://www.franz.de/kanzlei/news/lg...zbefoerderung/
Even though this decision has not legally binding effect, it will certainly have a factual influence on the further jurisdiction of the local court of Duesseldorf, the competent court for lawsuits against eurowings due to their registerered office in Duesseldorf.
In a recent judgement dated September 4, 2019, the Duesseldorf Regional Court clarified the situation: If, after cancellation, a passenger requests the next possible flight in accordance with Art. 8 Para. 1 lit. b of the Regulation 261/2004/EC, he is also entitled to a flight with another airline.
In this case, a 11 a.m. flight was cancelled and other flights in the earlier morning and for 5:xx p.m. were offered. A LH flight )9was available at 11 am. EW refused to rebook for the EW flight.
Unfortunately, this question has been answered differently in parts of the case-law, including the first instance court in this case.
More details on the case and the full text of the decision can be found in German at https://www.franz.de/kanzlei/news/lg...zbefoerderung/
Even though this decision has not legally binding effect, it will certainly have a factual influence on the further jurisdiction of the local court of Duesseldorf, the competent court for lawsuits against eurowings due to their registerered office in Duesseldorf.
#2
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If a 11AM flight is cancelled and you are offered both an earlier flight the same morning and a 5PM flight I fail to see how the pax can insist on being rebooked to another airline. Just my cents.
#3
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Posts: 445
In my particular case, the passengers could not reach the early flights due to being on an island that morning. The late flight would have led to reaching their home quite late in the evening with their children, (4+7).
From a legal point of view, Art. 8 of the passenger rights regulatpm 261/2004/EC gives the answer:
Article 8 Right to reimbursement or re-routing
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:
[...]
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.
1. Where reference is made to this Article, passengers shall be offered the choice between:
[...]
(b) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity; or
(c) re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at a later date at the passenger's convenience, subject to availability of seats.
Only option c, a later transport at the passenger's convenience, the wording "subject to availability of seats" implies that this only includes airline's own flights.
#4
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Art. 8
The issue is here what "under comparable transport conditions" means - airlines construe it as meaning their own flights, i.e. you need to be rebooked to their own flights at the earliest opportunity.
No, "subject to available seats" means that the same booking class needs to be available. If in Economy, you can't insist on being rebooked to a later day where e.g. J/C seats are available but no economy seats. In practice, airlines construe it as the same booking class needs to be available, i.e. of you are in L class, L class needs to be available for the flight you wish to rebooked to.
The issue is here what "under comparable transport conditions" means - airlines construe it as meaning their own flights, i.e. you need to be rebooked to their own flights at the earliest opportunity.
No, "subject to available seats" means that the same booking class needs to be available. If in Economy, you can't insist on being rebooked to a later day where e.g. J/C seats are available but no economy seats. In practice, airlines construe it as the same booking class needs to be available, i.e. of you are in L class, L class needs to be available for the flight you wish to rebooked to.
#5
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Art. 8
The issue is here what "under comparable transport conditions" means - airlines construe it as meaning their own flights, i.e. you need to be rebooked to their own flights at the earliest opportunity.
No, "subject to available seats" means that the same booking class needs to be available. If in Economy, you can't insist on being rebooked to a later day where e.g. J/C seats are available but no economy seats. In practice, airlines construe it as the same booking class needs to be available, i.e. of you are in L class, L class needs to be available for the flight you wish to rebooked to.
The issue is here what "under comparable transport conditions" means - airlines construe it as meaning their own flights, i.e. you need to be rebooked to their own flights at the earliest opportunity.
No, "subject to available seats" means that the same booking class needs to be available. If in Economy, you can't insist on being rebooked to a later day where e.g. J/C seats are available but no economy seats. In practice, airlines construe it as the same booking class needs to be available, i.e. of you are in L class, L class needs to be available for the flight you wish to rebooked to.
"Comparable conditions" seems to imply the same cabin (so the airline doesn't have to rebook a coach passenger into a business class seat) and the same number of connections (with similar connection times). One could argue that a full service airline couldn't force a customer to accept a rebooking onto an ULCC.
#6
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The UK CAA already gives this advice to the public and toothlessly tells Ryanair and lately BArb that they need to rebook OAL.
FR's excuse was always that they are not IATA members so they can have some real costs... but surely EW are members?
FR's excuse was always that they are not IATA members so they can have some real costs... but surely EW are members?
#7
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It doesn't matter whether they are members or not. Their problem. The EU directive is clear and German law is clear, too. Not a big surprise but a very supportive court - considering the timelines.
#11
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