Lawsuit dismissed
Court ruling: boarding time means boarding time
Air travelers must appear at the gate in good time. Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Air travelers who appear after boarding has expired may be turned away, even if the aircraft has not yet taken off. That was decided by the Munich District Court.
If you arrive too late at the gate at the airport, you are no longer entitled to the flight – even if the plane is still there and takes off late. The Munich District Court decided in a published judgment.
It dismissed a vacationer’s lawsuit against a Munich tour operator. The woman and her partner wanted to leave Frankfurt Airport on a package tour to Egypt in March 2019.
The vacationer sued the tour operator
However, they were refused entry into the plane at the gate on the grounds that boarding had already ended. According to the court, the boarding time on the flight tickets was 4:55 p.m. and the departure time was 5:25 p.m.
In fact, the plane did not leave the gate until 5:39 p.m. – because the travelers’ luggage that was already on the plane had to be unloaded. The plaintiff then booked a new flight – and reclaimed the costs for it from the travel company. She says the airline shouldn’t have turned her back at the gate.
Travelers were late at the gate
But if she was allowed to, the judge decided (Az. 275 C 17530/19). According to the court ruling, the travelers appeared at the gate at 5.14 p.m., less than 12 minutes before the scheduled departure. “An arrival 18 minutes after the stated boarding time” is “no longer in time”.
“The travelers knew the boarding time was at 4:55 p.m., and there is no minimum boarding time,” the judge said. “The respective airline is free to determine the end of boarding according to its processes and the preparatory measures still to be taken.” That is why boarding by the time the aircraft leaves the gate does not have to be guaranteed.
“The fact that in exceptional cases, passengers are still accepted even after the aircraft doors have been closed, does not contradict this,” said the final judgment. The exception confirms the rule: “If a general claim existed, a significant disruption to air traffic would be expected.”