The courts of the final destination in an intra-EU flight with a connecting flight has the jurisdiction to make a legal decision on a request for compensation from passengers in the event of a delay in the first part of a journey carried out in another member state, according to the European Court of Justice in a decision made on Wednesday 7 March (C-274/16, C-447/16, C-448/16).
A European Court of Justice judge explained that this is the case where the different flights were part of a single booking for the entire journey and the long delay of the arrival at the final destination is due to an irregularity which took place on the first flights. Passengers booked with Air Berlin and Iberia connecting flights from Spain to Germany (travelling from Palma de Majorca to Düsseldorf with Air Berlin and from Melilla to Madrid to Frankfurt with Iberia) are covered for the entirety of the respective flights.
Both of the first domestic flights in Spain were operated by Spanish airline, Air Nostrum. These flights were delayed, which resulted in passengers missing their second flight to Germany and reaching their final destination with a delay of more than three hours.
The matter was taken to the District Court in Düsseldorf and the Federal Court of Justice (Germany), which asked the Court of Justice to clarify whether under the Brussels I (44/2001) Regulation the German courts have international jurisdiction to rule on actions against an airline which has its seat in another Member State and only carried out the first internal flights in a member state without signing a contract with the passengers.
In its judgement, the Court holds that the final destination in Germany can be considered to be the place of performance of the services to be provided not only with respect to the second flight but also with regard to the first domestic flight in Spain. It follows that the German courts have, in principle, jurisdiction to rule on actions for compensation brought against a foreign airline such as Air Nostrum on the basis of Regulation 261/2004 on “compensation and assistance to passengers”.
According to the Court, the Brussels I Regulation covers the claim brought to court because the carrier, in this case, Air Nostrum, must be regarded as fulfilling the freely consented obligations vis-à-vis the contracting partner of the passengers concerned (in this case, Air Berlin and Iberia). The Court also considers that, in the case of a connecting flight, the ‘place of performance’ of that flight under the terms of the Brussels I Regulation, must be considered as the place of arrival of the second leg, where the carriage on both flights was operated by two different air carriers and the action for compensation for the long delay of that connecting flight is based on an irregularity which took place on the first of those flights, operated by the air carrier with which the passengers concerned do not have contractual relations
The Court notes in that regard that the contracts at issue, consisting of a single booking for the entire journey, establish the obligation, for an air carrier, to carry a passenger from a point A to a point C. Such an operation constitutes a service of which one of the principal places of provision is at point C. According to the Court, it is sufficiently foreseeable for an airline which, like Air Nostrum, operates only the first flight from point A to point B that the passengers can take action against it before the courts at point C. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)