The District Court of Munich had to deal with the question of whether a considerable waiting time at the security check at the airport in the case of package tours constituted a lack of travel. The background is that a vacationer missed his flight despite queuing on time.

The court decided in the first instance under case number 158 C 1985/23 that tour operators cannot be held liable for delays and waiting times during security checks at German airports. The Munich District Court determined that this is a sovereign activity of the state and therefore neither the tour operator nor the airline have any influence over it.

Together with his wife, the plaintiff appeared at Munich Airport about three hours and 20 minutes before the scheduled departure. However, he also had checked baggage, but the airline's counters only opened at 11:00 am. At around 11:20 a.m., the vacationers queued up for the Siko and it took until 13:00 p.m. for them to be able to pass. It was stated in court that instead of around 20 control lines, only one should have been in operation.

There were recommendations in advance that you should arrive at the airport at least three hours before departure, but these became downright absurd due to the fact that the airline only opened the check-in counter two hours before the scheduled departure guided. Due to the long waiting time for the security check, the plaintiff and his wife then missed their flights.

Since no solution could be found with the tour operator out of court, they went to court. However, the Munich District Court dismissed the lawsuit because the security check is a sovereign activity of the state over which the tour operator has no influence. Furthermore, the legally required personal and baggage checks are not part of the travel contract and cannot be included in it, as this is a task of the state. The judgment is not yet final and can still be appealed.