In a recently published judgement the European Court of Justice (CJEU) has clarified the rules applying to downgrades according to Article 10 Regulation (EC) No 261/2004. By confirming the carrier's reasoning, the Court held that where a passenger is downgraded on a flight, the price to be taken into account in determining the reimbursement for the passenger affected is the price of the flight on which he was downgraded unless that price is not indicated on the ticket entitling him to transport on that flight, in which case it must be based on the part of the price of the ticket corresponding to the quotient resulting form the distance of that flight and the total distance which the passenger is entitled to travel.
Furthermore, the Court found that for the reimbursement solely the price of the flight itself, to the exclusion of taxes and charges indicated on that ticket, can be taken into account, as long as neither the requirement to pay those taxes and charges nor their amount depends on the class for which that ticket has been purchased.
Air and Space Law