BA lose in German court

[Al Fakhem]

A court in Frankfurt a.M. has ruled BA's terms and conditions illegal as far as refusal of passengers using a return portion of ticket is concerned when the outward flight has not been completed. This ruling is still open to appeal

However, an earlier similar ruling by a court in Erding (Az.: 4 C 129/07) has become effective. In that case, a passenger was awarded 530 Euros in damages for having been refused a flight from Florence to Munich; the airline had argued that he had not taken the outward flight and thus the return ticket had become invalid.

The court's ruling was explained using common sense and a similar situation in a restaurant, where the establishment cannot refuse to bill a guest for the price of the daily special just because the diner had not consumed the starter.

More at http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell/0,1518,524624,00.html

[WHBM]

The court's ruling was explained using common sense and a similar situation in a restaurant, where the establishment cannot refuse to bill a guest for the price of the daily special just because the diner had not consumed the starter.
This sounds quite a familiar argument to one I put a few years ago. See post #9 here :

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=166402

Perhaps I should ask for a share of the damages :)

[cwatters]

Presumably this also has implications in other travel industries. Day return tickets are frequently a lot cheaper than longer returns. Recently quoted £108 for 2 "day return" tickets vs £180 for 1 standard return.

[kingair9]

The same claim against LH is still undecided but will probably go into the same direction.

For those of you who don't know the German law system: This decision has been taken at a lower-level court. There are at least 2 higher courts that could confirm or change the ruling. BA has already announced to go into appeal at the next higher court level.

So for the moment this decision practically does not mean anything. You could still be denied boarding as your ticket is seen to be invalid by CKI staff. You would then still have to buy a new ticket and claim the expenses at your local, low-level court which will NOT decide until the highest court-level has taken their final decision.

So it still be years until this situation is finally decided.

[Al Fakhem]

kingair 9:

The Erding ruling has, apparently, gone uncontested and is thus effective.

[kingair9]

kingair 9:

The Erding ruling has, apparently, gone uncontested and is thus effective.


Possible, but tell this to a Check-In-Girl when her computer says "njet"... I was not speaking about the formal ruling but about the practical consequences...

[radeng]

Another court case follows? Surely they end up paying heavily? And isn't there interest to pay, too?

[ATNotts]

How does this effect other EU states - does this make Eurotunnels position regarding day return fares (where two day returns are considerably less than one discounted normal return) illegal too??

I've often been tempted to buy two day returns and use the outward of one, and return of the other.

[PAXboy]

The one certainty is that BA will drive this through as many appeals as it can. They have a fair amount resting on this. Not just the money but, if this goes against them at the last, then it will be shown that their way of doing business has been unfair to customers across an extended period of time.

We all know that of course, but until it is proved in court ...

[Bat Fastard]

It's about time this was stopped. I thought that restrictive practices like the "saturday night" rule had died a while ago. They seem to have gone in short haul but when I went to NY in Sep, it was £260 ish each if I went including Sat night and £770 ish each for Sun am or later!
Just by coincidence this was almost the same with BA VS AA Cont!

The lesson in short haul over the last 10 years is that BA in particular forced many pax into the arms of the LCCs by these practices. I wonder if the same may creep into long haul.

[bealine]

What went wrong in the German court then?
Did someone mention the war? :rolleyes: