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(CN) – The European Court of Justice upheld the compensation claim Thursday of a woman who arrived in Agadir, Morocco, four hours later than scheduled because of a problem with her connecting flight in Casablanca.
Though the EU regulation on air passenger rights does not apply to flights that run exclusively outside the EU, Claudia Wegener’s flight was found to qualify because she booked the connection as a single unit with her trip from Berlin, Germany.
Wegener had to take a later flight to Agadir because Royal Air Maroc informed her at the gate that it had given away her seat to another passenger.
She filed suit when the airline refused her application for compensation, and the court in Berlin invited Europe’s highest court to interpret the regulation at issue.
Thursday’s ruling out of Luxembourg says that the fact that Wegener had to switch planes does not alter the holding.
“None of the provisions of Regulation No 261/2004 renders the classification as connecting flight subject to the condition that all of the flights included were effected aboard the same aircraft,” the ruling states.
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