In the case of flights with a single booking comprising several segments operated by different airlines, a consumer may seek compensation for the cancellation of the last segment of the flight before the court of the place of departure of the first segment, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled in an order delivered on Thursday 20 February (Case C-606/19).
Two passengers booked a connecting flight that was a single confirmed reservation and consisted of three segments: - Hamburg/London operated by British Airways; - London/Madrid and Madrid/San Sebastián (Spain) operated by Iberia. The third leg of the flight was cancelled, but passengers were not informed in a timely manner.
The company Flightright, based in Potsdam (Germany), to which both passengers had assigned their possible claims for compensation, brought an action for compensation against Iberia before the Hamburg District Court. It is asking for €250 per passenger on the basis of Regulation (261/2004) on air passenger rights.
The German court asks the Court of Justice to determine whether it has jurisdiction in the dispute concerning the cancelled flight segment, since the places of departure and arrival of the Madrid/San Sebastián segment are outside its jurisdiction. This question requires the interpretation of the Regulation (1215/2012) on jurisdiction.
In its order, the Court replies that the German court has jurisdiction in this case. According to the Court, the place of performance of the flight within the meaning of the Regulation on jurisdiction may indeed be the place of departure of the first flight segment, as one of the places of principal supply of the services which are the subject of an air carriage contract.
The Court considers that the criterion of the place of departure of the first flight segment satisfies the objective of proximity between the air carriage contract and the competent court and the principle of foreseeability which are recommended by the regulation on jurisdiction. It enables both the plaintiff and the defendant to identify the court of the place of departure of the first segment of the flight, as stated in that contract, as the court which may be seized.
In 2019, the Court ruled that in the context of a segmented flight which gave rise to a single reservation, the air carrier which operated the first segment of that flight, the point of departure of which was within the jurisdiction of the court seized, could be sued for damages in respect of all the segments of that flight (Case C-502/18) (see EUROPE 12294/20). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)