Legally it looks like this: Can an airline easily cancel my ticket?

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Blick reported that Swiss passengers had their flight tickets canceled without their knowledge several times in recent weeks. This begs the question: Can an airline simply cancel a ticket?

It depends. The first is that the airline cannot provide transportation due to technical, weather or other reasons. The airline must provide a replacement if possible or refund the cost of the flight and pay compensation if necessary.

A passenger offense can also lead to cancellation. This includes violations of ticket rules, such as the passenger having to fly all booked flights in the specified order. If the first flight is missed, all other flights in the journey may be canceled in accordance with the airline’s transportation conditions.

Switzerland defended this when canceling the flight ticket of Blick reader reporter Walter Congiu, but here Lufthansa contradicts its subsidiary.

Vague provisions regarding identity verification

Things get difficult if a third party cancels. Blick documented cases of former professional cyclists Urs Freuler, 60, and Franco Blaser, 58, whose plane tickets were canceled without their knowledge or intervention. Didn’t Switzerland adequately check whether the person making the annulment had the right to do so?

According to travel lawyer Rolf Metz (69), in the case of telephone cancellation, the burden of proof lies on the airline: the airline must have carried out an ID check that proves beyond doubt that the cancellation is legal. So how far should such an identity check go? “As far as I know, there is no legal regulation on this issue,” says Metz. However, simply asking for name, flight number and flight date may not be enough.

In legal proceedings, the passenger must explain in advance how other airlines handled the situation in order to accuse Switzerland of negligence.

There is no judicial precedent

Metz points out that the transportation conditions state that passengers must protect the personal data contained in the ticket. For example, anyone who shares their ticket on social media is transferring the information to unauthorized third parties and is then liable for misuse.

But what if that’s not the case? “In my view, the airline should also ask identification-related questions, the answers to which cannot be found in flight documents alone,” says Metz; not in the sense of legal advice but in the sense of a non-binding opinion.

What makes this even more difficult is that each case will be examined individually in court. So, in one case, it will be possible for the passenger to win, and in the other case, for the airline to win. And the loser of the case pays all costs. “Since the amount in dispute is generally low, you probably won’t end up in federal court,” says Metz. He is unaware of such a case in Switzerland.

Conclusion: The airline is quite on the safe side because almost no one exhausts legal remedies as the outcome is completely uncertain due to the lack of precedent. Nevertheless, Urs Freuler continues to search for other victims so that he can pursue common legal remedies.

Source :Blick