The Spanish court sentenced TAP to include the infant in compensation for the flight delay, despite the fact that the child did not pay for the ticket and did not take a seat on the plane, because he was riding on the lap of an adult.
The court decision in Bilbao, in the Basque Country (northeast Spain), was released this Thursday by the ERREKLAMATU law firm, which specializes in claims related to flights, banks and accidents.
“If canceled or delayed, infants are also subject to compensation” in “certain assumptions”, such as the case of a family of four from the Basque Country who traveled from Lisbon to Bilbao on June 4, 2022. A TAP flight, which was delayed by five hours , explained ERREKLAMATU in a statement revealing the judgment from the court of first instance.
Due to the delay, the family (two adults and two children, one of whom is an infant under two years old) demanded compensation from TAP in the amount of 1026.56 euros, which corresponds to 250 euros per person, and other expenses incurred by the flight did not leave on time. .
Always, according to ERREKLAMATU, TAP partially granted the family’s request and offered compensation of 769.30 euros, which did not include a child under the age of two, “claiming that the child did not pay for the ticket and did not take a seat on the flight.”
The airline also refused to pay the surplus the family had to pay for parking in Bilbao for exceeding a booking they had made earlier, as it was not a “passenger assistance concept”.
However, the judgment of Bilbao Court of First Instance No. 12, which the law firm published this Thursday, obliges TAP to pay all the compensation the family has requested.
In the case of the infant, lawyers said, the judge argued that “the booking made at the time of ticket purchase contained the name of a minor identified as a passenger” and, in addition, “a boarding pass was issued.” with his name and fees paid, thus fixing the price of the ticket.”
In addition to airport fees, the family also paid a fee of around six euros to book the trip, lawyers said.
The Court referred to European Regulation No. 261/2004 on the rights of passengers affected by delayed, canceled or overbooked flights (more bookings than seats available).
The verdict of the Spanish court, cited in the communiqué of the ERREKLAMATU lawyers, argues that the European regulation establishes compensation for the passenger “understood as one who is carried by the company and who, by virtue of the fact that he was so, should have reserved and bought a ticket, even unless this ticket entitles you to use a seat other than your parents’ seat.”
“Obvious evidence is that the child pays airport taxes and has his own boarding pass, which means that the ticket is paid,” the judge wrote in the verdict given by the lawyers.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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