When it comes to airlines having to pay passengers, many providers are getting creative to avoid them if possible. It gets particularly complicated when you book through an online travel agency. The Higher Regional Court of Vienna put a stop to the gauntlet runs. The judgment is already final.

The EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation clearly stipulates that if the airline is canceled, for example, passengers should get their ticket money back within seven days. In the previous year, Austrian Airlines sent many passengers whose flights were canceled due to the pandemic, on a downright gauntlet run, precisely when they were booked through an intermediary rather than directly.

In the previous year there were only a few “white sheep” who paid back within the statutory period. Austrian Airlines joined the "black sheep" and put the reimbursements on the back burner for now. Many travelers who had booked through intermediaries were also confronted with the fact that the OTA had gone to a diving station and if they were able to establish contact, they were referred to the AUA. However, this referred to the mediator. A system of organized non-jurisdiction, although the legal regulation is crystal clear.

The Association for Consumer Information discovered a clause in the Lufthansa subsidiary's General Conditions of Carriage that says that you have to contact the seller for reimbursements. The carrier did not give in out of court, so the matter ended up in the second instance before the Higher Regional Court in Vienna.

This declared the clause illegal and prohibited Austrian Airlines from using it. According to VKI, many who asked the AUA to reimburse the ticket costs for a canceled flight received a rejection with the following wording: "In our case, the ABB (under 10.1.2.) Regulate that reimbursements are only made to those persons who paid for the ticket. In the case of bookings via online platforms, this is the respective agent. ”Point 10.1.2 of the ABB reads:“ If the ticket was paid for by someone other than the person specified in the ticket and a corresponding reimbursement restriction note was made when the ticket was issued, we will only make a refund to the person who paid for the ticket. ”The intermediaries, often online booking portals abroad, are often difficult to reach. In some cases, this means that passengers still have not been reimbursed for their ticket costs. In the opinion of the VKI, this constitutes a violation of the Air Passenger Rights Regulation. The VKI has therefore brought a lawsuit against the AUA for the omission of the “Refund Restriction” clause.

The Higher Regional Court of Vienna declared the clause inadmissible because it is unclear what exactly is to be understood by a "reimbursement restriction note": When, on whose request and by whom such a clause can be made, remains just as unclear as the specifically required content of the Endorsement. The clause is therefore not transparent according to the Consumer Protection Act.

In addition, the court found that the clause is grossly disadvantageous because the AUA made the payment to the (in their opinion legitimate) payer of the ticket dependent on the existence of a "corresponding reimbursement restriction note". There is no objective justification for this. The court left open whether there was an additional violation of the Passenger Rights Ordinance. The judgment that with this link can be read is already legally binding.