On 29 April the CJEU decided the case of Blue Air - Airline Management Solutions (C-584/18), the facts of which were a bit unusual for cases in which Regulation No 261/2004 applies. The passenger in the given case was a citizen of Kazakhstan, trying to fly from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Bucharest (Romania) with a Romanian air carrier Blue Air. The passenger had the following travel documents: passport, temporary residence permit in Cyprus, application for a visa to Romania and the answer of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Romania to that application assuring that no such visa was required if he had a residence permit in Cyprus already. The personnel of Blue Air denied boarding to this passenger, however, based on the fact that he did not have a valid visa.
In this comment we will only focus on the questions referred to the CJEU which pertained to the applicability of Regulation No 261/2004 to this situation (questions four and five). Namely, whether passengers have the rights from Regulation No 261/2004 when the air carriers denies them boarding claiming that inadequate travel documents have been provided by the passengers. Article 2(j) Regulation 261/2004 states that the air carrier does not have to provide passengers with assistance or compensation in case of a denied boarding justified by 'reasonable grounds' such as e.g. inadequate travel documents. The CJEU emphasises whilst interpreting this provision that the EU legislator did not intend to give the air carriers discretion in evaluating whether the travel documents were adequate (paras 92-94). The national court is, therefore, competent to assess the adequacy of the passenger's travel documents, if the passenger contests the air carrier's decision to deny them boarding (para 95). Based on the circumstance of the given case the CJEU advises the referring national court to assess the denied boarding as not justified by reasonable grounds (paras 96-97). It does not matter that the air carrier tried to exclude or limit its liability for denied boarding through its terms and conditions, regardless whether that term was part of the concluded contract between the parties. Article 15 Regulation 261/2004 clearly prohibits such exclusions or limitations of liability from being enforced (para 102).
