ECJ on cancelled flights: Airline is not liable for injuries of passengers staying in hotels provided free of charge

Nov 6, 2020 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The ECJ dealt with the question of what kind of obligation an airline has when providing hotel accommodation to guests of cancelled flights.

In the present case, the flight of a passenger with reduced mobility (plaintiff) of the airline NIKI was cancelled, so that an overnight stay at the location of the airport was necessary. As a result of the cancellation, the airline offered free accommodation in a local hotel in accordance with Art. 9(1)(b) of the EU Flight Compensation Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 261/2004). During her stay in the hotel, the plaintiff was seriously injured after her wheelchair got stuck with its front wheels in a transverse groove of a path. She demanded compensation from the insolvency administrator of the airline (defendant) because the employees of the hotel had negligently failed to remove or otherwise secure the transverse groove in the path.

The Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof, OGH) referred the question to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling as to what kind of obligation the airline was subject to under Article 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. Related to this is the question of whether the hotel acted as a vicarious agent of the airline (Sec. 1313a Civil Code of Austria, (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch - ABGB)) when accommodating the plaintiff and thus the airline itself and not (only) the hotel is liable for the damage.

The ECJ explained that Art 9(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 only requires the airline to find a hotel room for the passengers concerned and to bear the costs of such a room. The wording of the provision does not give rise to any further obligation to also provide accommodation as such directly or by resorting to a commissioned hotel.

The OGH will therefore exclude the liability of vicarious agents (Sec. 1313a ABGB) in the further proceedings and dismiss the action.

ECJ C-530/19 (03 September 2020)