By Saint Yves Kodjo founded Robin des Airs
It is not which leg caused the delay. It is what time you land at your final destination. | Accra International Airport sends a significant share of its European-bound traffic onward through major European hubs rather than directly to its final destination. Accra to Amsterdam to Manchester, Accra to Paris to Marseille and Accra to Brussels to Geneva are examples of itineraries that can be booked as a single journey.
For compensation purposes under European Regulation 261/2004, what matters in a qualifying connecting journey is not simply which individual segment went wrong. It is the arrival time at the final destination shown on the single reservation.
The rule the Court of Justice settled: one booking, one journey
In its 2013 ruling in Folkerts v Air France, the Court of Justice of the European Union held that a passenger’s right to compensation under EU261 is assessed by reference to the arrival delay at the final destination, rather than simply the delay affecting an individual segment.
A passenger can therefore depart on time and arrive at the connecting hub on schedule, yet still be entitled to compensation if a later flight covered by the same reservation results in an arrival at the final destination three hours or more behind schedule. The Court expressly held that compensation is not conditional on the initial flight itself having exceeded the regulatory delay threshold.
The Court has also confirmed that flights booked as a single unit can constitute one connecting journey for the purposes of EU261.
A concrete case out of Accra Int. Airport
Take a passenger flying from Accra to Amsterdam on KLM and then continuing to Manchester on the same booking.
If the Accra to Amsterdam flight arrives on time but the connecting flight to Manchester is significantly delayed, the relevant question is not whether the Accra to Amsterdam sector was itself late. The relevant question is whether the passenger reaches Manchester at least three hours later than the scheduled final arrival time.
Where the regulation applies to the journey, the compensation analysis is therefore based on the final destination and the distance of the journey concerned, rather than simply the distance of the segment on which the delay occurred. The Court’s Folkerts decision is the basis for this approach.
For a route such as Accra to Manchester, which exceeds 3,500 kilometres, the applicable fixed compensation can reach €600, subject to the other conditions of EU261 and any applicable reduction or extraordinary circumstances defence.
What can still exonerate the airline, and what cannot
The existence of a connecting itinerary does not remove the airline’s possible defence based on extraordinary circumstances.
Severe weather, certain security risks and strikes outside the airline’s control can, depending on the circumstances, prevent compensation from being payable.
Technical problems are different. In Wallentin-Hermann, the Court of Justice held that technical problems inherent in the normal activity of an air carrier do not automatically qualify as extraordinary circumstances.
The location of the technical problem within a connecting journey does not by itself answer the compensation question. What matters is whether the legal conditions for compensation are satisfied and whether the airline can establish a valid defence.
Why this is easy for passengers to get wrong
Passengers naturally tend to focus on the flight number printed on the boarding pass that actually ran late.
That can be misleading.
A traveller connecting through Amsterdam, Paris or Brussels may remember that the long flight from Accra arrived on time and conclude that the journey was unaffected. But under the Court’s interpretation of EU261, the decisive question for compensation can be what happened after the connection and when the passenger finally reached the destination shown on the booking.
This is particularly important for passengers travelling on a single reservation, because separate tickets can lead to a different legal analysis.
What to check before writing to an airline
First, establish whether the entire itinerary was booked as a single reservation.
Then check the scheduled and actual arrival time at the true final destination, rather than looking only at the connecting airport.
Finally, identify the operating carrier on the relevant flight or flights and establish whether EU261 applies to the journey under Article 3.
For passengers departing from a non-EU airport such as Accra, the identity of the operating carrier remains especially important. EU261 can apply to a flight from a third country to the EU where the operating carrier is an EU carrier, while a comparable itinerary operated by a non-EU carrier can fall outside the regulation.
The practical lesson is simple. Do not judge a compensation claim by looking only at the flight that was late. Look at the complete booking, the operating carriers and the time you actually reached your final destination.
It is not which leg caused the delay. It is what time you land at your final destination. | AviationGhana
