Court of Justice: right to compensation when flight is brought forward

Early Flight

The consumers in this case had booked a package holiday to Turkey, only for airline Corendon to bring the departure time of the outbound flight forward by 1 hour and 40 minutes. One group of passengers claimed that they had not been informed of the change and had missed their flight as a result. The passengers booked new tickets so that they could still go on holiday, but did request compensation from Corendon, as they felt that bringing the flight forward was tantamount to cancelling the flight. 

Question for the Court

Does bringing a flight forward by 90 minutes count as a cancellation? That is the question the Court had to answer for this case. When a flight is cancelled, travellers are entitled to request between € 250 and € 600 in compensation, depending on the distance of the flight.

Court of Justice

According to the Court, substantially bringing forward the departure time of a flight, like a delay, can be very inconvenient for passengers, as the earlier departure time affects how passengers should plan their time. Moreover, it may mean that they have to make changes to their current accommodation or travel arrangements, e.g. because they are unable to catch the flight due to the earlier departure time or because they have to make significant changes to their schedule to catch the flight.  

European passenger rights are designed to give passengers access to compensation for various types of damage. The Court finds that the inconvenience caused by substantially bringing forward a flight is about the same as that of a cancellation. If an airline brings a flight forward by more than an hour, it counts as a cancellation and passengers may be entitled to compensation. If the airline notified passengers of the earlier departure time well in advance, they do not have to pay compensation.

Find out more

You can read the full ruling in case C‑179/21 Corendan Airlines on the Infocuria website (Case Law of the Court of Justice).