The Bottom Line
- Airlines can defeat compensation claims for missed connections if an extraordinary delay is so significant that even a reasonably planned buffer time would not have saved the connection.
- This ruling reinforces that while airlines must plan for potential disruptions, they are not liable for delays that are causally unavoidable, even with prudent scheduling.
- For claimants, the burden is to show not only that a connection was tight, but that specific, reasonable measures (like a larger buffer) would have factually prevented the passenger from missing their onward flight.
The Details
In a recent case involving Turkish Airlines, the District Court of Noord-Holland provided important clarity on an airline’s duty to take “reasonable measures” under EU Regulation 261/2004. The case was brought by claims agency AirHelp on behalf of three passengers who missed their connecting flight to Antalya after their initial flight from Amsterdam to Istanbul was delayed. The airline defended the claim by arguing the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances, a common defense that exempts carriers from paying compensation.
The court’s analysis went a step further than simply validating the existence of extraordinary circumstances. It acknowledged that a 38-minute portion of the flight’s delay was indeed unavoidable. The crucial legal question then became whether the airline had still taken all reasonable measures to prevent the missed connection, with AirHelp arguing that the planned connection time was insufficient. This focused the court’s attention not just on the disruption itself, but on the airline’s operational planning and scheduling resilience.
Ultimately, the court sided with the airline in a pragmatic ruling. It reasoned that even if the carrier had incorporated a standard planning buffer (often cited as 20 minutes above the minimum connection time), the 38-minute unavoidable delay was simply too great. The passengers would have missed their connecting flight regardless of this extra buffer. Because the proposed “reasonable measure” would not have changed the outcome, the airline could not be held liable. The court effectively applied a causation test, dismissing the claim because the link between the airline’s planning and the passengers’ missed connection was broken by the severity of the extraordinary event.
Source
Source: Rechtbank Noord-Holland
