(Not)Dashing through the snow - AG Athanasios Rantos on delayed flights in United Airlines (C-561/20)

On December 9, AG Athanasios Rantos issued an opinion in the case United Airlines (C-561/20), which concerned interpretation of Articles 5 and 7 of Regulation 261/2004 on air passenger rights. This is another case concerning a delayed connecting flight, through which airlines try to limit their obligation to pay out compensation, pursuant to the rules of the Regulation, to passengers affected by such a delay.

In this particular case, passengers were travelling from Brussels (Belgium) to San José International airport (the US) via Newark International (the US). One reservation was made for these flights with the Community air carrier, German Lufthansa. However, both flights were operated by United Airlines, a non-Community carrier. Due to a technical defect of a plane, the second connecting flight was delayed.

United Airlines refused to pay compensation, invoking the fact that the delay occurred during the second leg of the air travel, during a flight from an airport in the US to another airport in the US, and that they were not a Community carrier.  

Unsurprisingly, following the previous case law of the CJEU (e.g. Wegener, C-537/17, see more here, and Ceske aerolinie, C-502-18, see more here), AG Athanasios Rantos finds that passengers are due compensation, as when the delay occurs in connected flights is irrelevant, as long as one reservation has been made for the flights, which if treated as one unit fall within the scope of application of the Regulation. The slight difference in this case is that the passengers want to claim compensation from a non-Community air carrier, however, AG Athanasios Rantos does not consider this an issue, following the non-contested fact that United Airlines was an operating air carrier on these flights (para 52).