European Court Of Justice Rules Flight Is Considered “Canceled” If Brought Forward

European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules just before Christmas that a flight brought forward by an hour or more is considered canceled when it comes to EC 261/2004 compensation.

Also, the ECJ rules that it is not enough that an airline transfers the information about a schedule change to a tour operator or an OTA more than 14 days before if the information doesn’t reach the passengers. Flights that are delayed by three hours or less are not considered canceled.

EC 261/2004 applies to all flights from EU/EEA and community carriers’ flights to EU/EEA too, but not, for example, UA’s flight from New York to Frankfurt.

ECJ’s ruling:

Download (PDF, 252KB)

Conclusion

This is an exciting and important ruling that includes delays or flights brought forward by charter airlines. They must provide compensation per EC 261/2004 and seek restitution from the tour operator if they have failed to inform passengers about flight timing changes in advance adequately.

The ECJ’s ruling opens up plenty of opportunities for affected passengers to collect 250, 400, or 600 euro compensation depending on the flight’s length.