When a flight is cancelled, the passengers receive a refund of the ticket price as well as a compensation payment. This is regulated by the air passenger rights regulation of the EU.
Many consumers don't book their flights directly at the airline, but through an intermediary who often charges a commission for his service. The European Court of Justice (CJEU) now decided that the airline has to refund not only its own ticket price to the passenger, but this commission as well.
The decision was made regarding a case where a consumer bought several tickets for a flight of the airline Vueling to Portugal via the platform opodo.de. The consumer received a refund for the ticket price from Vueling, but not for the additional commission charged by opodo.de. He went to court in Hamburg, Germany. The court asked the CJEU for clarification. According to the CJEU's decision, the airline has to pay the full costs to the customer, which includes the commission of the intermediary. However, this only applies if the airline knew about the commission. This must be clarified by the national court.
Read more in the press release of the CJEU.
Find out more about your air passenger rights in the EU in our article: Problems during air travel.
