Verdicts & victories (I): compensation for missed flights due to COVID restrictions
We managed to get a travel agency to compensate two travellers who were forced to cancel their international flight at the end of 2020 as a result of the restrictions established by both countries.
In November 2020, two travellers were forced to request a flight modification from their travel agency as newly implemented sanitary restrictions of both the destination and origin country were imposed making it impossible to travel. The travel agency did not offer them a reasonable alternative, but instead only flights that were much more expensive, with over 24 hours in layovers and hence of a much lesser value than those previously contracted. Despite numerous attempts requesting a suitable alternative, the travel agency ignored their request resulting in a missed flight.
We took over and filed a civil lawsuit before the Barcelona Courts, claiming compensation of the total cost of the flights, along with its corresponding legal interests.
The lawsuit highlighted the provisions of the Royal Decree-Law 11/2020 from March 31, which adopts urgent complementary measures in the social and economic field to deal with COVID-19, whose article 36.4 states that: "In the event that there are combined travel contracts, which have been canceled due to COVID-19, the organizer or, where appropriate, the retailer, may provide the consumer or user, upon acceptance by part of this, a voucher to be used within one year from the end of the validity of the state of alarm and its extensions, for an amount equal to the corresponding reimbursement. Once the validity period of the voucher has elapsed without having been used, the consumer may request a full refund of any payment made, which must be paid no later than 14 days.”
The Judgment issued by Don Juan Ignacio Calabuig Alcalá del Olmo, Barcelona Trial Judge No. 54, taking into account said regulations, concluded: “There is no evidence that the defendant has complied with the obligation to offer the one-year voucher and the attempts by the plaintiff to change the flight to one of similar conditions have been unsuccessful. The defendant finally, and considering the claim, returned the cost of their services. Additionally, the defendant does not justify the impossibility of refunding the ticket price. ”
Ultimately, the sentence condemns the travel agency to compensate the travellers, returning the amount paid for their flights, plus the corresponding legal interests. Also, this ruling is firm, so the defendant does not have the opportunity to appeal.
This victory is of great importance, since there are many agencies who did not offer its customers the option to change their flights for others with similar conditions, thus breaching the applicable regulations.
Consumer rights as travellers must be fully respected and if they feel they are not, we are happy to defend their rights in court.
If you want us to uphold your rights, send us a WhatsApp or call us at +34 610 632 963 or write to us at contact@nietojones.com.
