Uncertainty weighs, even to justify rejecting some flights for fear of what may happen. This has been considered by a Court of First Instance of Marbella, when condemning, through a sentence handed down last November 2022, an airline to reimburse some passengers, almost 900 euros, for some flight tickets contracted and forecasts to operate in 2020 during the pandemic. The Court considered that, considering that finally if the sight was lost, the unilateral withdrawal by the claimants was based on a justified cause, such as the uncertainty of being unable to return.
As explained to the lawyer José Antonio Romero Lara, who raised the defense of the plaintiffs, the relevance of this case lies in the fact that the flights finally did operate. Therefore, there is no competition for breach of contract that ex art. 1124 CC and Regulation 261/2004 that allow passengers to request reimbursement of the price paid for flights. However, according to the lawyer, "we were able to argue the existence of a force majeure that would allow consumers to unilaterally withdraw from the transport contract and be reimbursed for the price paid."
Therefore, the question that arises is whether it is appropriate to estimate the claim for reimbursement of the price paid by the defendants, given the circumstances related to the declaration of a state of alarm on March 14, 2020 by Royal Decree 63/2020, of On March 14, on the date of the flight, the WHO had already declared the situation a global pandemic and numerous restrictions on mobility and freedom of movement were in force both at the regional, national and international levels.
Force majeure
For the Judge, it is evident that the Covid-19 pandemic constitutes a cause of force majeure, therefore, in a reasonable and considered forecast of the competing circumstances and pending the existing health and transport situation worldwide, it could occur that the return flight will be affected by a possible closure of borders, with the consequent impossibility for passengers to return to Spain, or that it could have been unilaterally by the airline, especially considering the existing strong forces at that time for the displacements, motivated by the health emergency.
uncertainty
Pending all these circumstances, the judgment considered that the hearing of the contract entailed considerable difficulty and uncertainty, since it declared that the unilateral withdrawal of the same by the plaintiffs was found to be well-founded and was supported by a justified cause.
For this reason, the Court orders the defendant airline to reimburse the passengers for the price paid for the tickets, amounting to 898,12 euros plus the legal interest on said sum from the extrajudicial claim to the date of the sentence.
