DE: International jurisdiction in the case of a flight booking

Mar 4, 2022 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

In the case of an outbound and return flight agreed as a single service, the place of departure is the relevant destination for the place of jurisdiction. According to the German Federal Supreme Court (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH), the agreement of a single service is regularly to be assumed if the outward and return flight are booked at the same time, a total price is invoiced and a single booking confirmation is issued.

In this case, a passenger's luggage was damaged on the outward flight from Frankfurt-Hahn to Naples. She is now claiming damages from the travel company under the Montreal Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (MC). She booked the round trip from Frankfurt-Hahn to Naples via an internet platform. The court of appeal held that the action was inadmissible due to the lack of international jurisdiction of the German courts. According to Article 33 para 1 MC, the place of destination was Naples, the place of the contractually agreed last landing. Frankfurt-Hahn could only be regarded as the place of destination if the outward and return flight booked by the plaintiff constituted a single international carriage within the meaning of Article 1 MC. According to the court of appeal, this was not the case.

According to the BGH, Frankfurt-Hahn is to be regarded as both the place of departure and the relevant destination for the place of jurisdiction. According to Art 1 para 2 MC, only an intermediate landing had taken place in Naples. Rather, a single service must therefore be assumed, because the outward and return flights were booked at the same time, a total price was charged and a single reservation number was transmitted.

BGH, X ZR 85/20 (23.11.2021)