24.11.2012

Official Journal of the European Union

C 366/13

(Case C-321/11) (<span class="super">1</span>)

(Air transport - Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 - Compensation for passengers in the event of denied boarding - Concept of ‘denied boarding’ - Cancellation of a passenger’s boarding card by an air carrier because of the anticipated delay to an earlier flight also operated by it which included check-in for the flight concerned)

2012/C 366/21

Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants: Germán Rodríguez Cachafeiro, María de los Reyes Martínez-Reboredo Varela-Villamor

Defendant: Iberia, Líneas Aéreas de España SA

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Juzgado de lo Mercantil No 2 de A Coruña — Interpretation of Articles 2(j), 3(2), 4(3), 5 and 7 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91 (OJ 2004 L 46, p. 1) — Concept of ‘denied boarding’ — Denial of boarding on a connecting flight because of delay to the first flight attributable to the airline — Allocation of seats on the connecting flight to other passengers because it was envisaged that it would be impossible for the passengers in question to arrive in time to catch their connecting flight, which was not the case

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2(j) of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, read in conjunction with Article 3(2) of Regulation No 261/2004, must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘denied boarding’ includes a situation where, in the context of a single contract of carriage involving a number of reservations on immediately connecting flights and a single check-in, an air carrier denies boarding to some passengers on the ground that the first flight included in their reservation has been subject to a delay attributable to that carrier and the latter mistakenly expected those passengers not to arrive in time to board the second flight.

* Language of the case: Spanish.

(1) OJ C 282, 24.9.2011.