{"id":6259,"date":"2026-03-04T17:47:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/?p=6259"},"modified":"2026-03-04T17:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T16:47:15","slug":"voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

The General Court of the European Union (GC) has held in Case T-656\/24<\/a> that voluntarily waiting for passengers affected by an extraordinary circumstance breaks the required direct causal link and thereby precludes reliance on extraordinary circumstances within the meaning of Article 5(3) of Regulation (EC) No 261\/2004 in respect of a subsequent flight.<\/p>\n

The delay originated from the security check at Cologne\/Bonn Airport being overwhelmed, which caused all passengers of a European Air Charter flight to Varna (Bulgaria) to arrive at the gate significantly late. The airline decided to wait for these passengers and operate the flight with a considerable delay. As a result, the subsequent flight operated by the same aircraft from Varna to D\u00fcsseldorf, as well as the further onward flight from D\u00fcsseldorf to Varna, could not be operated as scheduled. Passengers on the D\u00fcsseldorf to Varna flight brought compensation claims under Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 261\/2004 against European Air Charter, which invoked extraordinary circumstances in its defence.<\/p>\n

The GC acknowledged that the disruption at the security checkpoint constituted an extraordinary circumstance. However, it found that the required direct causal link between that extraordinary circumstance and the delay to the subsequent flights was broken by the airline’s intervening autonomous decision to operate the first flight with a delay. Even though that decision was taken in the interest of the passengers concerned, it remained an independent commercial decision of the airline. It could therefore no longer be said that the flights in question were delayed due to extraordinary circumstances, and the affected passengers are accordingly entitled to compensation under Regulation (EC) No 261\/2004.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t hesitate to contact our Aviation Team<\/u><\/a> to learn more about passenger claims in Austria.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The General Court of the European Union (GC) has held in Case T-656\/24 that voluntarily waiting for passengers affected by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[238],"tags":[701,700,272,1093,1092,312,243,500,935,725,340,1091,247,726,249,749,250,750,251,252,254,145,146],"yoast_head":"\nVoluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Weisenheimer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Weisenheimer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/\",\"name\":\"Weisenheimer\",\"description\":\"Legal\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":627,\"caption\":\"Freiwilliges Warten auf Passagiere kein au\u00dfergew\u00f6hnlicher Umstand\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/\",\"name\":\"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#\/schema\/person\/eea97adeb8f022ffe8b72d54286d1c36\"},\"description\":\"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#\/schema\/person\/eea97adeb8f022ffe8b72d54286d1c36\",\"name\":\"Weisenheimer\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer","description":"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer","og_description":"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/","og_site_name":"Weisenheimer","article_published_time":"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Weisenheimer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/","name":"Weisenheimer","description":"Legal","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Design-ohne-Titel-3.png","width":1200,"height":627,"caption":"Freiwilliges Warten auf Passagiere kein au\u00dfergew\u00f6hnlicher Umstand"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/","name":"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances - Weisenheimer","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-03-04T16:47:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#\/schema\/person\/eea97adeb8f022ffe8b72d54286d1c36"},"description":"Delays due to waiting for passengers affected by extraordinary circumstances does not constitute extraordinary circumstances.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/voluntarily-waiting-for-passengers-does-not-constitute-extraordinary-circumstances\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Voluntarily Waiting for Passengers Does Not Constitute Extraordinary Circumstances"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/#\/schema\/person\/eea97adeb8f022ffe8b72d54286d1c36","name":"Weisenheimer"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6265,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions\/6265"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weisenheimer.law\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}