ECJ: Compensation not warranted over unruly passenger delays
June 11, 2020
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Thursday ruled that airlines do not necessarily have to compensate passengers who incur delays or cancellations to their flights because of the disorderly behavior of other travelers.
Under certain conditions, unruly conduct by passengers could be deemed an "extraordinary circumstance," alleviating airlines of the responsibility of paying damages, the court in Luxembourg ruled.
Other examples of extraordinary circumstances deemed to be out of an airline's control include extreme weather or natural disasters but now situations with passengers on board the airplane has been added to the list.
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The ruling came after a case in Portugal in which a passenger demanded compensation from an airline for a long delay. Their flight was late because it had to make an unplanned stop on the previous flight due to an unruly individual, which the airline said fell into the "extraordinary circumstance" category.
Not all cases
While siding with the airline, the Luxembourg judges' ruling specified that this would not apply if the crew contributed to the passenger's bad behavior or if they had not paid attention to "warning signs" before boarding the flight.
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Furthermore, in order to avoid paying compensation, the airline must take "reasonable measures" to offset the disruption to flights. These could involve ensuring the rerouting of passengers at the earliest available opportunity, including using flights operated by other air carriers, the ruling stated.
jsi/msh (dpa)
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