Browsing Tag Regulation 261/2004
Air transport. The Court of Justice rules on passengers travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available, directly or indirectly, to the public
A passenger is not regarded as travelling free of charge or at a reduced fare not available directly or indirectly to the public, within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, where, first, the tour operator pays the price of the flight to the operating air carrier in accordance with market conditions and, secondly, the price of the package tour is paid to that tour operator not by that passenger but by a third party
The Court of Justice rules on the case where, despite passengers were informed in advance of the denied boarding, the flight was nonetheless carried out as originally planned
An air passenger who, in the context of a package tour, had a confirmed reservation for a flight may seek compensation from the operating air carrier as provided by Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 where the operator of that tour, without informing the latter in advance, notified that passenger that the flight would not be performed, whereas it was operated as originally planned
The Court of Justice rules on the possibility of considering as an “extraordinary circumstance” the detection of a hidden design defect in an aircraft’s engine, even when the air carrier had been informed in advance of its existence
The detection of a hidden defect in the design of the engine of an aircraft which is to operate a flight is covered by the concept of “extraordinary circumstances” within the meaning of Regulation No 261/2004 even where the engine manufacturer had informed the air carrier of its existence several months before the flight concerned
The Court of Justice rules on the possibility to consider technical failures caused by a hidden design defect revealed by the manufacturer after cancellation of the flight as an “extraordinary circumstance”
The occurrence of an unexpected and unprecedented technical failure affecting a new aircraft model recently put into service, which results in the air carrier cancelling a flight, falls within the concept of “extraordinary circumstances” according to Regulation No 261/2004 where the aircraft’s manufacturer recognises, after that cancellation, that that failure was caused by a hidden design defect concerning all aircraft of the same type and impinging on flight safety
The Court of Justice rules on the possibility to consider the shortage of staff of the airport operator providing baggage loading services as an “extraordinary circumstance”
Despite the fact that there being an insufficient number of staff of the airport operator responsible for the operations of loading baggage onto planes may constitute an “extraordinary circumstance” according to Regulation No 261/2004, in order to be exempted from its obligation to pay compensation to passengers the air carrier whose flight has experienced a long delay on account of such circumstance is required to show that it could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken and that it adopted measures appropriate to the situation to avoid the consequences thereof