Claudia Wegener v Royal Air Maroc SA

Timothea

(Apologies if this has already been reported, but I could not find any references to it when I searched this board.)

European Court of Justice, C-537/17

On 31 May 2018 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued a decision regarding the scope of Article 3(1)(a) of EC Regulation 261/2004.

The Facts

Claudia Wegener booked a flight with Royal Air Maroc from Berlin (Germany) to Agadir (Morocco), with a stopover and change of aircraft in Casablanca (Morocco). She checked in for all of her journey's flights at the airport in Berlin. On arrival in Casablanca, she presented herself for boarding the aircraft destined for Agadir. Royal Air Maroc refused to allow her to board and informed her that her seat had been reassigned to another passenger. Wegener eventually boarded another Royal Air Maroc aircraft and arrived in Agadir four hours after the initial scheduled time of arrival. Royal Air Moroc refused to pay compensation according to EC Regulation 261/2004.

Ms Wegener lost her initial claim at the Wedding District Court but subsequently appealed to the Berlin District Court, which stayed proceedings and referred the question of whether the flight from Berlin to Agadir, with a change of aircraft in Casablanca, was a single flight within the meaning of EC Regulation 261/2004 to the ECJ.

The Ruling

The ECJ ruled that EC Regulation 261/2004 applied to a passenger air transport under a single booking and comprising, between its departure from an airport situated within an EU member state and its arrival at an airport situated within a third state, with scheduled stopover(s) outside the European Union, with or without a change of aircraft, and must be considered as a single unit.

The Effect

This ruling confirms the earlier Folkerts judgment even when the delay in reaching the passenger's final destination occurs entirely outside the EU. This opens up potential compensation claims going back up to six years.

Links

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/airline-passengers-eu-compensation-delayed-connecting-flights-ecj-court-ruling-a8388201.html

https://www.bottonline.co.uk/blog/connecting-flights-outside-eu-now-claimable