Company pays travellers if plane leaves late because it is waiting for an earlier flight

The airlinepays the compensation to passengers for the delay in the departure of the flight, if it decides, on its own, to wait for the passengers of the preceding flight, who have been delayed due to the shortcomings of the security checks. The carrier's free choice, which is the sole cause of the delayed take-off, breaks the direct causal link between the exceptional circumstance constituted by that deficiency and the delay on arrival of a later flight scheduled on the same day on the same aircraft. The Court of Justice, in its judgement in case C-656/24, found against the European Air Charter airline, which denied the compensation claimed by passengers, 400 euros per person, for a delay of approximately five hours suffered by their flight from Düsseldorf, Germany, to Varna, Bulgaria. The carrier invoked the "exceptional circumstance" that had affected the earlier flight. For the judges in Luxembourg, however, the delay of the later flight was to be attributed to an autonomous decision, which was to be regarded as the decisive cause of the delay.

It was the Land Court in Düsseldorf that had to decide whether the airline could be exempted from the obligation to pay compensation for the delay due to an exceptional circumstance affecting an earlier flight. In fact, after an exceptionally long waiting time at the security checkpoint at Cologne-Bonn airport, due to an overload of checkpoint staff, all passengers of a previous flight showed up late for boarding. European Air Charter therefore decided to wait for those passengers, which led to a delay in take-off of more than five hours. In addition, the company decided to reorganise subsequent flights, including the Duesseldorf-Varna flight, with a replacement aircraft.

The Land Court asked the EU Court for clarification on the interpretation of the rules. The Court clarified that the airline cannot rely on the exceptional circumstance that affected a previous flight within a flight rotation, if its decision to wait for delayed passengers because of security checks is the determining cause of the delay of the next flight, as long as the decision was not unavoidable due to a legal obligation. This is a matter for the domestic court to verify. And thus, specifically, to the Land Court in Düsseldorf. Nor can the airline justify its decision to wait, with the interest of the passengers on the earlier flight in being transported within a reasonable time, in order to avoid compensating the passengers on the later flight for the inconvenience suffered. And this is because it is not for itto balance the interests of the different groups of passengers involved.