Complaints from Airline Passengers in the EU: a Black Hole in Consumer Protection? an Analysis in Terms of International Judicial Jurisdiction

This work reviews all the judgments handed down by the CJEU as a consequence of the preliminary rulings raised by different national courts on the determination of international judicial jurisdiction in matters of passenger air transport contracts. The claims based on the compensation established in Regulation 264/2001 and the compensation of the Mon-treal Convention have forced the CJEU to interpret the interaction between both regulations and, above all, the term place of fulfillment of the provision of art. 7. 1 a) of the Brussels I bis Regulation since the seminal Rehder ruling. The CJUE, in its decisions, has gradually brought the level of protection of the consumer of air passengers closer to the general regime of arts. 17-19 of the Brussels I bis Regulation, achieving that in many cases the forum actoris of the claimant passenger is a de facto reality. Starting from the fact that there is still a long way to go for the equality between both consumers, it would be necessary to conclude that the function of the CJEU through its jurisprudence will also be essential in the future so that the right to effective judicial protection has the same content in both categories of consumers at least within the European Union. Especially if the modifications of the uniform law are not foreseeable in the short or medium term.