OI V AIR NOSTRUM LÍNEAS AÉREAS DEL MEDITERRÁNEO SA

Case C‑191/19, Court of Justice of the European Union, 30 April 2020

Air transport — Compensation for air passengers in the event of denied boarding —Cancellation — Connecting flights — Change of reservation against the passenger’s will — Arrival of the passenger at final destination without delay — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004

This was a request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Frankfurt am Main (Regional Court, Frankfurt am Main, Germany), made in proceedings between the claimant passenger and the defendant airline. The claimant sought compensation for denied boarding under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004* for changes made to her reservation against her will. She had made a single reservation for connecting flights from Jerez via Madrid to Frankfurt. In the event, instead of her reservation on a flight from Jerez at 13.35, she was placed on a flight departing at 17.55. She was on time for her connection at Madrid at 20.00 and landed in Frankfurt just before the scheduled time. The first question referred by the Landgericht was: “Does the change in reservation at check-in of a passenger, who has a confirmed reservation on a specific flight, to a later flight against that passenger’s will constitute denied boarding within the meaning of article 4(3) of Regulation No 261/2004, if the flight on which the passenger had a confirmed reservation then goes ahead?” There was a second question, which was not considered by the court in light of its answer to the first question. “Does Article 5(1)(c)(iii) of Regulation No 261/2004 apply by analogy in the event of denied boarding within the meaning of Article 4(3) of that regulation?”