Reimbursement of the cost of an air ticket in the event of flight cancellation must include the commission collected by an intermediary (Verein Fur Konsumenteninformation v KLM N.V)
EU Law analysis: A request was made by the Austrian Supreme Court for a preliminary ruling on the interpretation of Article 8(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) 261/2004, the EU Air Passenger Rights Compensation Regulation, relating to reimbursement of the cost of an air ticket in the event of flight cancellation, and whether such reimbursement must include any commission paid to an intermediary such as a travel agent when purchasing tickets on its website. The Court of Justice held that Article 8(1)(a), when read in conjunction with Article 5(1)(a), must be interpreted as meaning that the cost of the ticket to be reimbursed to a passenger in the event of flight cancellation includes the difference between the amount paid by the passenger and the amount received by the carrier, which corresponds to a commission collected by the intermediary, even where the carrier does not know the exact amount of commission involved. Written by Kathryn Ward, of counsel at DLA Piper UK LLP.