By decision of 7th March 2007 Court of Appeal in Frankfurt (Oberlandesgericht Frankfurt) has moved for Preliminary Ruling of the European Court of Justice in regard to Regulation (EC) 261/2004 (often but not quite correctly referred to as “Denied Boarding Regulation”).The request for Preliminary Ruling is amiming for clarification in regard to the scope of application of the Regulation as provided in Art. 3 Par. 1 lit. a, whereas the regulation shall apply “to passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State to which the Treaty applies “. There was doubt (and various decisions by different German courts) whether the regulation also applies to the return flight from a non EU airport if passenger booked a round-trip ticket with the first segment starting from the EU.The majority of German travel lawyers are sharing the view that the return flight is coverd by the regulation as a round trip has to be seen as a unitary contract for carriage.Source: Newsletter of the German Travel Laywers’ Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Reiserecht). German Text of the request for Preliminary Ruling can be read here.
