GER: Passenger Rights – Precautionary Cancellations Allowed

Nov 29, 2024 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

The German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) has ruled that airlines must be given some leeway in assessing what constitutes an appropriate measure in the event of extreme weather conditions.

A causal link between an extraordinary circumstance and the cancellation of a flight can also be established if the airline decides to no longer operate certain flights on the day of the extraordinary circumstance, in order to avoid having to cancel or delay flights the following day.

In the case at hand, in 2020, a woman had booked an evening flight from Stuttgart to Hamburg (Germany). The flight was scheduled to depart at 6.15 p.m., but was cancelled at 8.30 p.m. due to a snowstorm that had created chaos in the region that day.

The woman assigned her claims against the airline to a service provider. The service provider then sued for compensation under the Air Passenger Rights Regulation. The district court ordered the airline to pay compensation. The higher courts, however, have recently ruled in favour of the airline.

According to the BGH, the cancellation was due to exceptional circumstances. Therefore, the airline was not obliged to pay any compensation for having cancelled the flight.

The snowstorm had had an impact on the entire flight day and had in particular caused delays to earlier flights. The airline was entitled to cancel the flight in order to avoid delays and cancellations the following day, even though the flight in question could have taken off again.

According to the case law of the European Court of Justice, in order to be able to rely on the extraordinary event in the case of a later flight, there must be a direct causal link between the occurrence of the event and the cancellation of the later flight.

Such a connection also exists if the weather conditions no longer prevent the flight from taking place, but if the aircraft were allowed to take off this would cause disruption to later flights.

BGH X ZR 136/23 (24 September 2024)