Many airlines offer corporate customers special tariffs. These do not necessarily have to be cheaper, but they often have more flexible conditions. But what if a flight is delayed or even canceled? Lufthansa was defeated before the Federal Court of Justice because it was of the opinion that no compensation should be paid.

EU regulation 261/2004 states that such an entitlement only exists if a publicly available tariff has been booked. This generally excludes free and employee tickets. But what about corporate tariffs? Lufthansa was of the opinion that these are not public tariffs and therefore there is no obligation to pay compensation.

On the other hand, the Flightright portal sued on behalf of customers and prevailed in two proceedings (file number: X ZR 107/20 and X ZR 106/20). One lawsuit was about a flight delay and the other about a canceled connection. The service provider argued in court that the “corporate tariff” was merely a volume discount and thus a type of customer loyalty. The Federal Court of Justice followed this line of argument and ruled in favor of the passengers.

Philipp Kandelbach, Managing Director of Flightright: “The Federal Court of Justice rightly decided in favor of the passengers. Once again Flightright was able to prevent a curtailment of passenger rights against the Lufthansa Group before the highest German court ”.