EU Court of Justice Judgment in Case C-238/22 LATAM Airlines Group

Thursday 26th October 2023

Judgment in Case C-238/22 LATAM Airlines Group

(Transport)

When a passenger was unable to check in for the flight from Frankfurt am Main to Madrid that she had booked for the following day, she contacted LATAM Airlines. LATAM Airlines informed her that it had transferred her to a flight that had taken place the previous day without informing her. It also informed her that her reservation for the return flight, which was due to take place more than two weeks later, had been blocked on the grounds that she had not taken the outbound flight. The passenger asked LATAM Airlines for lump-sum compensation of €250 because she had been denied boarding on the return flight.

The German court, to which the passenger appealed, asked the Court of Justice whether such compensation presupposes, under the regulation on air passenger rights, that the passenger presented himself at check-in despite the fact that the airline had informed him in advance that he would not be allowed to board. The court also wishes to know whether the airline can, as in the case of flight cancellations, exempt itself from the obligation to pay compensation if it informs the passenger of the denied boarding sufficiently in advance, i.e. at least two weeks before the scheduled departure time of the flight.

Background Documents C-238/22