Cancellation

In 2017 the claimants had booked a holiday package to Mallorca with TUI Germany including flights with Sundair. Five days before departure they were informed that they were rebooked to other flights operated by other airlines wtih an outward flight arrving in Mallorca more than 13 hrs later and a return flight arrivng in Germany more than 3 hrs later than orginally booked. They filed a law suit against Sundair for compensation according to Reg. (EC) No. 261/2004.

The plaintiffs had booked tickets for a Lufthansa flight from Hamburg via Frankfurt to Miami and back from Los Angeles via Frankfurt to Hamburg. The ticket price was EUR 2.766,32 and according to the tariff, the ticket was non-refundable (except applicable taxes only). Because of a disease, the plaintiffs cancelled their tickets and claimed back the ticket price. Lufthansa only refunded taxes of EUR 133,56 each. The plaintiffs filed a law suit for the difference which was dismissed by the first instance court (AG Köln) and their appeal was dismissed as well.

A German Consumer Association (Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände) made a test booking on Air Berlin’s website and found that the taxes, charges and fees applicable to the ticket were indicated as being only 1 Euro or 3 Euro while the real taxes, charges and fees must have been much higher. The Consumer Association regarded this practice as misleading.

On Oct. 5, 2016 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) provided another clarification regarding the interpretation of Reg. (EC) No. 261/2004. The case involved an Bulgarian Air Charter flight from Burgas (Bulgaria) to Dresden (Germany). The flight departed as scheduled but made an unscheduled stopover in Prague which caused a delay in arrvial at Dresden of  2 hours and 20 minutes.