EU Court: Airlines Cannot Change Flight Times to Avoid Delay Compensation
The European Union Court of Justice (CJEU) has ruled that airlines cannot alter flight times retroactively to avoid paying compensation for delays. The decision stems from a lawsuit filed against Corendon Airlines, which operated a Munich–Antalya flight in 2022 that arrived nearly four hours late.
The case was brought before the Erding District Court in Germany by Myflyright, a company to which passengers had transferred their compensation claims. The local court ruled that the originally scheduled arrival time must be used as the reference point when calculating a delay. Corendon appealed, arguing that the delay should be measured against the updated flight time listed on reissued tickets.
However, the EU Court of Justice rejected this argument, confirming that delays must always be determined based on the original flight schedule.
The court emphasized that this interpretation is essential to protect passenger rights, warning that otherwise, airlines could simply change flight times “on paper” to escape their compensation obligations. The ruling is expected to significantly impact low-cost and charter carriers, where such scheduling practices have been more common.
