Different airlines, but connecting flights - CJEU in flightright (C-436/21)

A week ago, on October 6, the CJEU issued a judgment in the case flightright (C-436/21) on the concept of 'connecting flights' in Regulation 261/2004 on air passenger rights. This concept has been used e.g. in Article 2(h) of the Regulation, where the 'final destination' has been defined as 'the destination on the ticket presented at the check-in counter or, in the case of directly connecting flights, the destination of the last flight (...)'. 

The passenger in this case travelled from Germany to the US via Switzerland. Their journey required 3 flights, which were purchased together from a travel agency. American Airlines was mentioned on the single electronic ticket that the passenger received as the operating air carrier, even though the first flight was performed by Swiss International Air Lines. The whole journey had a single reservation number and the passenger received an invoice showing a single price for the return flights. In this case the last of the connecting flights, taking place within the US, was delayed by more than 4 hours. The passenger assigned their claim for compensation of 600 Euro from American Airlines to flightright.

The passenger would fall within the scope of Regulation 261/2004 only if their journey was deemed to have started in the territory of the EU (Germany). The issue was that the first flight was carried out by Swiss International Air Lines between Germany and Switzerland. American Airlines operated the second and third flight, but the second flight departed from outside the EU - from Switzerland. Swiss International Air Lines and American Airlines have no specific legal relationship and their flights have been combined for the purposes of this passenger by the travel agency. Should American Airlines then have to pay compensation under Regulation 261/2004 if their records might not have reflected that the passenger would have started their journey within the EU and therefore could be covered by Regulation 261/2004?

The CJEU says yes, referring to the previous judgment on defining 'connecting flights' as flights booked as a single unit (Wegener - see our comment Bad news for airlines...) (para 20). As the passenger's ticket seems to have confirmed that their reservation was for the entire journey, it would qualify as a single unit (para 26). The CJEU highlights further that Regulation 261/2004 does not require connecting flights to be performed by operating air carriers who are in a particular legal relationship (para 28). American Airlines seems, therefore, liable in this case for paying out the compensation to passengers. They could, however, try to seek recourse on the tour operator who has booked the journey, if they failed to fulfil their obligations (para 30).