EU Helpers says that the rulings of the EU Court of Justice pertain to cases C-474/22 and C-54/23.
The European Court of Justice has declared that travelers who bought a ticket for a different flight and arrived at their destination with a delay of less than three hours, or who failed to show up for boarding a flight that arrived with a significant delay, “do not qualify for a fixed compensation.”
Regarding two flights from Düsseldorf to Palma de Mallorca, Laudamotion made a notice regarding a delay of over three hours. Two travelers, fearing they would miss a business meeting, decided after the news to cancel their reservations on the aircraft they had been on.
The flight of the first passenger was three hours and thirty-two minutes late. The second passenger booked a different trip at the same time and arrived at the destination less than three hours later than the scheduled arrival time of the first flight.
The first passenger gave flightright, a legal aid business, his rights. To obtain the predetermined compensation of €250, both flightrights and the second passenger have filed a lawsuit against Laudamotion in German courts. According to the Air Passenger Rights Regulation, any passenger may claim this reimbursement in the event that the flight is delayed by three hours or more from the original scheduled arrival time.
Consequently, the German Federal Court of Justice has asked the EU Court of Justice for clarification. If a passenger doesn't check in or books a different flight independently, arriving at the destination with a delay of less than three hours, but the flight is likely to be delayed by at least three hours beyond the originally scheduled arrival time, is the passenger still entitled to compensation, according to the German Federal Court of Justice?
The Court has emphasized that the main justification for this strategy is that travelers who experience lengthy delays, similar to those who experience plane cancellations, incur damages in the form of irrevocable time loss that is greater than or equal to three hours.
The Court points out that the purpose of the Rights Regulation is to remedy the "serious trouble and inconvenience" that travelers experience during a journey.