2023-11-06 10:12:37
When a woman from Saxony walked into a last-minute travel agency at Stuttgart Airport a few years ago, she didn’t suspect anything bad. She wanted to go to Porto, she explained to the employee. But instead of a ticket to the Portuguese coastal city, they gave her a ticket to Bordeaux – because she didn’t understand her Saxon. The customer objected to the debit of 294 euros and let the travel date pass. The organizer then went to court – and won. “If the recipient misunderstands an unclearly spoken explanation, this is generally to the detriment of the person making the declaration,” the judges reasoned, especially since the travel agency employee had repeated the flight destination twice in standard German before booking.
The 2012 ruling may make you smile. But it is just one of thousands of sometimes strange disputes that end up in court every year. Regardless of whether it is about the seat on the plane, the food in the hotel or vermin in the room: “The flood of lawsuits in court, be it against tour operators or airlines, is enormous,” says Würzburg travel lawyer Kay P. Rodegra. Most of the complaints from holidaymakers for price reductions, damages and compensation are justified. However, sometimes the suspicion arises that the guest is trying to get back part of the travel price by making a questionable complaint.
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