Flight passengers are welcome thanks to a new court ruling that has strengthened their rights.
However, the decision may not help the British who are caught up in a dispute with the airline due to Brexit.
The verdict comes from the European Union Judge (CJEU). This was asked to make a decision on a lawsuit in Poland, which saw two travelers in Poland being almost a day behind.
Air passengers travelling via flights from Tenerife to Warsaw were departed for more than 22 hours.
Under EU law, they were entitled to claim compensation from the airline for inconvenience.
However, the airline, anonymized in court documents, refused to pay as it allegedly claimed that the passenger had been confirmed and not paid for the reservation of the flight.
However, the CJEU has now declared that the boarding pass owned by passengers – may be sufficient to prove a valid booking.
A CJEU spokesperson said: “The Polish court had filed a lawsuit by a previous passenger and introduced the matter to the court of justice.
“Contrary to the position of the airline, we want to see if those passengers should be compensated under EU law.
“The court responded in affirmatively. We believe that the boarding pass may constitute other evidence that the reservation is registered and registered by the airline or tour operator.
“Therefore, apart from unusual circumstances, any passenger who presents himself for check-in and has a boarding pass for that flight, with the person involved holding the flight, must be deemed to have a confirmed booking on that flight.”
With an additional blow to the airline, the CJEU says passengers booked as part of a packaged flight are still entitled to compensation.
The airline in question claimed that flights from Tenerife to Warsaw were not entitled to compensation as passengers reduced fares as they were part of a package tour paid by third-party companies at a low rate.
However, the CJEU rebutted this, adding: “The court does not believe that the passenger in question has reduced fares that are not available to the public, either free of charge or directly or indirectly.
“That situation only occurs when it is the airline itself that has recognized such a possibility.
“Therefore, the fact that a third party paid the tour price to the tour operator and that the latter paid the flight price to the airline in accordance with the market conditions does not prevent passengers from enjoying the right to compensation.
“The court also states that the airline is to demonstrate that passengers traveled at free or such reduced fares in accordance with rules set forth by national law.”
However, because of Brexit, the UK is no longer bound by the CJEU decision, so Brits may not be subject to this ruling.
According to legal experts at law firm Travers Smith, if a ruling is issued after 2021, the CJEU's decision will not be directly effective in the UK.
However, given that UK courts tend to use EU case law and implement judgments where relevant, UK travelers may soon be granted the same rights.
