The EU Court of Justice ruled on Thursday 7 April that passengers of a delayed flight can claim compensation from an air carrier established in a third country when it performs the entire flight on the behalf of an EU carrier (Case C-561/20).
The Court was asked about the applicability of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 on air passenger rights in the case of a flight from Brussels to Newark and San José (USA), which was delayed at its final destination by 223 minutes. The American company United Airlines had carried out the entire flight on behalf of the German company Lufthansa, with whom three air passengers had made their reservation via a travel agency.
The European judge answers in the affirmative. He states that a flight with one or more connections and having been the subject of a single reservation, constitutes a package for the purposes of passengers’ right to compensation. The applicability of the Regulation must be assessed in relation to the initial place of departure and the final destination.
According to the court, United Airlines did not enter into the contract of carriage with the passengers, but the US airline may be liable for compensation in case of undue delay. Indeed, this air carrier was acting on behalf of Lufthansa, the contracting carrier.
See the judgement: https://aeur.eu/f/16j (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)