Case C‑302/16

Bas Jacob Adriaan Krijgsman

v

Surinaamse Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the rechtbank Noord-Nederland)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Air transport — Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 — Article 5(1)(c) — Compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of cancellation of a flight — Exemption from the obligation to pay compensation — Contract for carriage concluded through an online travel agent — Air carrier having informed the travel agent in good time of a change to the scheduled time for the flight — Travel agent having communicated that information to a passenger by email 10 days before the flight)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber), 11 May 2017

Transport — Air transport — Regulation No 261/2004 — Common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights — Exemption from the obligation to pay compensation — Contract for carriage concluded through an online travel agent — Air carrier having informed the travel agent in good time of a change to the scheduled time for the flight — Travel agent having communicated that information to a passenger by email 10 days before the flight — Included

(European Parliament and Council Regulation No 261/2004, Arts 5(1)(c) and 7)

Article 5(1)(c) and Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004 establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights, and repealing Regulation (EEC) No 295/91, must be interpreted as meaning that the operating air carrier is required to pay the compensation specified in those provisions in the case where a flight was cancelled and that information was not communicated to the passenger at least two weeks before the scheduled time of departure, including in the case where the air carrier, at least two weeks before that time, communicated that information to the travel agent via whom the contract for carriage had been entered into with the passenger concerned and the passenger had not been informed of that cancellation by that agent within that period.

(see para. 31, operative part)