Passenger rights – Who flies up there?

“I know who I am flying with, as you can see on the booking confirmation …”

In reality, things often look different. You book online with company A, but then you sit in the machine of company B, which is represented locally by company C, because it was chartered by company A.

For the average tourist, who is already in need of a break, this thicket of societies is so impenetrable that the wrong person is often claimed. Without a lawyer, other pitfalls often lurk, such as calculating deadlines or the question of who might have been the operating airline.

From my own experience as a lawyer in Lüneburg, I know that the airlines try to disguise their status as so-called operating airlines by constantly making new references to other subcontractors or partners.

The ECJ has now put a stop to this.

In its judgment of 4 July 2018 (Case C-523/17), it clarified that the operating company within the meaning of the Passenger Rights Regulation is the one that decided to operate the flight, not the one that provides the aircraft and crew used.

If you are also affected by a delay or cancellation of your flight, please contact me.

Even if the delay was caused in Paris or Amsterdam, Lüneburg is the right place to discuss contract law matters.

There are other landmark decisions that place the local jurisdiction of the court to be called upon in the reasonable vicinity of the passenger (first point of departure).