Last week, on 3 February 2022, CJEU issued another judgment interpreting Article 7 Regulation 261/2004 on air passenger rights this time in combination with the interpretation of Article 7 Regulation 1215/2012 (Recast Brussels Regulation) in the case LOT Polish Airlines (C-20/21). The dispute concerned the jurisdiction of a national court over a claim for compensation of a delayed flight.
The flight in case consisted of two legs of a journey with Lufthansa AG - Warsaw (Poland)-Frankfurt am Main (Germany)-Malé (Maldives). The first flight was operated by LOT Polish Airlines and its delay led the passengers to miss the second flight and arrive in Malé with more than 4 hours of a delay. The passengers claimed compensation for a delayed flight with a local court in Frankfurt am Main (Amtsgericht Frankfurt), which then disputed its jurisdiction as neither a place of departure or arrival listed in the contract of carriage (para 10). The referred question asked whether Frankfurt could be perceived as a place of performance pursuant to Article 7(1)(b) Regulation 1215/2012, which allows to determine domicile in contractual disputes regarding provision of services with reference to the place in which services were provided or should have been provided.
Previously, the CJEU has already confirmed the applicability of the jurisdiction rules governing contractual disputes to air passengers, regardless of the fact that their claims may be directed at operating air carriers with whom they did not conclude a contract (flightright and Others). The CJEU now reiterates the rules on determining jurisdiction for disputes where there are several places in which services were provided to looking for a place with the closest connecting factor between the contract and the court having jurisdiction (para 22). This tends to be the place where the 'main provision of services is to be carried out' (see Rehder). This should not be limited to the place of first departure and last arrival for a journey that consists of various legs (para 23). However, in the current case as the dispute arises from the delay of the first flight and the claim is raised against the air carrier operating that first flight, it seems that the place of first departure remains closely linked to the dispute and hence courts of that place should have jurisdiction (para 25). Consequently, the CJEU considers the courts of the place of arrival of the first leg of the journey not to have jurisdiction (para 27). The claim should be brought to courts of Warsaw rather than Frankfurt then, which is also considered to guarantee predictability and legal certainty for both parties (para 26).
