Flight cancellation: airline must also refund agency commission
If a flight has been cancelled, the refund must include the commission fees charged by an agency operating on behalf of the airline. This also applies if the airline does not exactly know how much commission a passenger has paid to the agency for their flight tickets. This was determined by the Court of Justice of the EU following a court case from Austria.
Passengers receive a partial refund
A number of travellers buy airline tickets online from the travel agency Opodo, for a return flight from Vienna (Austria) to Lima (Peru) with KLM. The airline cancels the flights and refunds the tickets. However, about € 95 is deducted from the full ticket price. This is the commission fee that the travellers had paid to Opodo.
Austrian lawsuit
The passengers ask an Austrian consumer organisation for assistance. This organisation brings the case before the Austrian court. It states that the travel agency commission should also be included in the reimbursement for the airline ticket, since the agency acts as an intermediary for the airline. KLM states it does not have to repay the commission because it was unaware it had been charged and does not know the exact amount involved.
Court of Justice
The Austrian court has asked the Court of Justice for a clarification of the European rules for reimbursement in the event of a flight cancellation. The Court says that if an airline accepts that an intermediary sells flight tickets in its name, it must be aware that the intermediary is asking for a commission. Additionally, the agency commission is an integral part of the ticket price. Therefore, the airline must reimburse these costs as well.
The airline does not need to know exactly how much commission is involved. Otherwise, an airline could always state that it cannot refund because it has not been informed of the charge or the amount. This would mean that passengers would have less protection. Moreover, buying tickets through an intermediary would be less attractive if this were the case.
Want to know more?
The full judgment C-45/24 can be found on the website of InfoCuria (case law of the Court of Justice) CURIA - Documents (europa.eu).