AIRLINES could be forced to pay out thousands of pounds in refunds to any passengers who have had their return fare cancelled after they missed their outbound flight.
In a landmark ruling, a UK judge has ordered that Iberia must refund a passenger the cost of his return journey after they automatically cancelled it, because he failed to check in on his first flight.
Carriers regularly cancel both legs of a trip if passengers miss the first one, but the new ruling by the Mayor’s and City of London Court could see an end to the practice, which often leaves passengers paying through the nose for another flight.
The ruling comes from a court case brought by barrister James Dove after Iberia cancelled the return leg of his flight from London to Madrid.
According to The Independent, James was a few minutes late checking in for his outbound flight from Gatwick and missed boarding.
He then called the airline and asked to keep his seat on the return flight from Madrid, as he would still be getting to Spain with another carrier.
But he was told that the entire trip had now been cancelled, so he was forced to buy a new ticket home with a different airline.
James was then told that he was not entitled to to claim a refund on the cancelled ticket, so he took them to court.
Iberia are not alone – many traditional flag carrier airlines like British Airways operate an immediate cancellation policy on the second leg of return flights, and these carriers sometimes charge more for single tickets than return flights.
The policy stops passengers taking advantage of by buying a return ticket with the intention of only using one section of the journey.
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It is mainly the more modern, budget airlines that sell flights on a single ticket basis, with the cost of each section charged individually.
The court ruling could have a big impact on passengers who have previously had the return leg of their flight cancelled after missing the outbound trip.
It could let any passenger who has been in a similar situation in the past six years (or five years in Scotland) claim money back from an airline.
Mr Dove told The Independent: “I believe that this judgement means anyone who has lost money because the airline cancelled the return of their trip will now be able to claim it back.
“Although this judgement is not binding, it could be used to persuade judges hearing similar cases.”