European justice equates the loss of a pet on a flight to that of a suitcase.

BrusselsThe European Court of Justice considers pets to be like baggage on airplanes. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled this Thursday that pets cannot be excluded from the legal concept of "baggage" and that, therefore, compensation for damages arising from their loss is subject to the regulations for baggage.

This is a case of a passenger who, on October 22, 2019, was traveling with her dog on a flight from Buenos Aires to Barcelona with Iberia. Due to weight and size reasons, the pet had to travel in the hold, and its owner failed to declare that it was luggage of special value.

The problem, however, is that the dog escaped while being transported to the plane and could not be found. The passenger subsequently requested compensation for the non-material damage caused by the loss of her pet in the amount of 5,000 euros. The airline assumed responsibility for the dog's escape and accepted the consumer's right to compensation. However, Iberia considered that it could only compensate for this loss within the scope of lost checked baggage.

For this reason, the passenger reported the case to the Spanish court, which then referred the legal question to the Luxembourg court because it was unclear whether pets were included in the concept of baggage under the Montreal Convention, which regulates international air transport. Finally, the CJEU has established jurisprudence in this regard and ruled that they should be included in the concept of baggage in terms of legal effects.

However, the ruling by the European Court of Justice recalls that, although they are legally considered luggage, "the requirements relating to their well-being during transport must always be fully taken into account."

A lightning strike is an extraordinary circumstance.

The CJEU has also ruled that a lightning strike against an aircraft, resulting in the cancellation of one or more flights, constitutes an extraordinary circumstance. Therefore, Luxembourg considers it a setback that "exempts" airlines from compensating consumers for a flight cancellation or a long delay. "A lightning strike and the resulting mandatory safety inspections constitute extraordinary circumstances," the European Court concludes.