CJEU: Jurisdiction in Cases Concerning Lost Air-Passenger Luggage

Sept 24, 2026 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has addressed the question of which court is competent to determine claims in damages where an airline ticket has been purchased online. The reference for a preliminary ruling arose in the context of proceedings brought in Spain by a passenger who had booked a flight from Madrid to Barcelona with Vueling Airlines. The passenger had purchased her ticket from her place of residence in Fuenlabrada by means of an independent online platform. At Madrid Airport, she checked in her luggage as an ancillary service; that luggage was subsequently lost in the course of the trip. She accordingly instituted proceedings before the court for her place of residence, seeking compensation for the loss thereby sustained. The Spanish court referred the matter to the CJEU to ascertain the rules governing international and territorial jurisdiction.

The CJEU held, first, that the Montreal Convention was applicable for the purposes of the legal assessment. The relevant provisions apply even where, as in the present case, both the airport of departure and the airport of destination are situated within the territory of a single Member State of the European Union. The determinative question was thereafter whether the making of the booking online entailed that the passenger’s place of residence could be treated as the place at which the carrier possessed an establishment. The CJEU answered that question in the negative. The mere circumstance that a ticket was purchased online from the passenger’s home is not, of itself, capable of conferring jurisdiction on the court for the passenger’s place of residence in respect of a claim in damages arising out of the loss of checked luggage. The Court further drew a distinction between the carriage of the passenger and the carriage of the luggage. Since the carriage of luggage constitutes no more than an ancillary service to the principal flight, it is, in principle, the contract for the carriage of the passenger which is decisive for the purposes of identifying the court having jurisdiction.

The CJEU thus confirmed that purchasing an airline ticket online does not, of itself, confer any additional jurisdiction on the courts of the passenger’s place of residence. Accordingly, passengers whose checked luggage is lost are not automatically entitled to bring proceedings before those courts. The competent forum must instead be determined by reference to the applicable legal provisions and to the contract of carriage. The judgment thus contributes to legal certainty as regards the identification of the court having jurisdiction in cross-border matters, or in matters governed by European Union law.

EuGH C-876/24