Travelers affected by COVID curbs may be entitled to compensation

Source: Schengen Visa Info

The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that all travelers whose package travel has been affected by measures imposed to fight the Coronavirus pandemic may be entitled to a reduction in the travel price.

Such a ruling from the EU Court comes after a court in Germany asked it to interpret the directive on package travel in cases when travel was disrupted due to COVID curbs, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The request from the Regional Court, Munich I, follows the case of two travelers who had purchased a two-week package holiday in Gran Canaria on March 2020 from a German travel organizer.

Since the two travelers were not able to go to the beach due to the curfew imposed to fight the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and were not permitted access to the swimming pools and sunbeds or to the entertainment program, they are now requesting a 70 percent price reduction.

The organizer refused to offer a reduction for these two travelers and after the case was taken to the EU Court, the latter decided that all travelers are entitled to appropriate price reduction for any period of time during which they dealt with a lack of conformity.

“By its judgment delivered today, the Court states that a traveler is entitled to a reduction in the price of his or her package where a lack of conformity of the travel services included in the package is due to restrictions that have been imposed at the travel destination to fight the spread of an infectious disease, such as COVID-19,” the EU Court of Justice stated.

According to the EU Court, all services included in the package must be assessed in order for the price reduction to be appropriate, stressing that the reduction must correspond to the value of services that travelers were unable to use

“The organizer’s obligations arising from the package travel contract include not only those explicitly stipulated in the contract but also those linked to it as a result of the purpose of that contract,” the EU Court added.

Following the decision of the EU Court of Justice, the Regional Court, Munich I, will now be responsible for assessing the services that the organizer had to provide. The Regional Court, Munich I, is required to particularly assess the closure of the pool, the lack of an entertainment program, and the fact that it was impossible to access Gran Canaria’s beaches.

As soon as the assessment is completed, the EU Court ruled that the reduction in the price of the particular package that the travelers paid for must correspond to the services for which a lack of conformity has been found.