ISSN 2184-8793 ISSNe 2975-9056 described above, leading to situations where provided meals are inadequate given the waiting time. An example of such poor practice are vouchers worth EUR 4, which the airline Ryanair allocated to passengers in case of delays exceeding 8 hours.39 Considering the foregoing, the question arises as to whether it would be appropriate to adjust the care based on the cost and type of the airline ticket. Nevertheless, passengers whose flight has a delay or is cancelled are essentially in the same situation and are faced with similar inconveniences, i.e., a loss of time. Therefore, adjusting the extent of care based on the type of ticket would not be appropriate and would place passengers in unequal position. d. Right to reimbursement or re-routing When a passenger's boarding is denied or their flight is cancelled, they are allowed to choose between a ticket refund within seven days or re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, which can be done either immediately or at a later time convenient for the passenger.40 Additionally, to the ticket refund, the passenger must also be offered a return flight to the first point of departure, at the earliest opportunity.41 The re-routing must not entail result in additional costs for the passenger, even in the case of an upgrade to a higher class.42 In the event of a delay, the passenger is eligible for cost reimbursement and a return flight to the first point of departure only if the delay lasts at least five hours.43 Re-routing, as a key measure to ensuring the continuation of a passenger's journey, requires active efforts from the airline to seek an alternative flight. This obligation extends beyond exploring alternative flights solely within the scope of its own airline; it must also examine flights offered by other providers.44 This ensures that the passenger reaches the intended destination as soon as possible. Offering alternative flights exclusively from the carrier's own airline can be justified only in two cases. Firstly, when there are no available seats on another flight that would enable the passenger to reach the destination sooner than the next flight of that airline. Secondly, when implementing such a route change would impose a disproportionate burden on the carrier given its current capacities.45 Until recently, it was unclear how tickets purchased through intermediaries would be treated in terms of ticket costs reimbursement. In other words, whether the amount considered would be the one actually received by the airline or the higher amount paid by the passenger to the intermediary. In the Harms46 case, the CJEU clarified that the ticket price considered for cost reimbursement includes the total amount paid by the passenger to the intermediary, meaning that the higher amount is taken into account.47 39https://www.express.co.uk/travel/articles/1217827/Ryanair-flight-delay-Stansted-Italy-compensation-passengercomplaint-twitter (19 January 2024). 40 Art. 8 of the Regulation. 41 Art. 8(1)(a) of the Regulation. 42 Commission Notice – Interpretative Guidelines on Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 and on Council Regulation (EC) No 2027/97 on air carrier liability in the event of accidents as amended by Regulation (EC) No 889/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council, para. 2.4.2, p. 8. 43 Arts. 6(1)(iii) and 8(1)(a) of the Regulation. 44 Case C-74/19, Transportes Aéreos Portugueses SA of 11 June 2020, para. 59. 45 Ibid., para. 60. 46 Case C-601/17, Dirk Harms of 12 September 2018. 47 Ibid., para. 20.
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