Airline was wrong to cancel return trip

Stella Bisseuil had sued it for “illegal” practices “contrary to the Air France general conditions”. The court in Auch ordered Air France to refund the price and pay damages.

Ms Bisseuil, from Toulouse, had bought the Toulouse-Paris round-trip ticket in May 2015 but had to go to Paris earlier than expected. She bought a one-way ticket with another airline. But, when she tried to take the Air France return she found her ticket had been cancelled without warning or refund.

She had to pay €300 for another ticket.

After winning her case, she now intends to take “a group action before the Tribunal d’Instance in Paris” to help other passengers.

Air France told Connexion: “The court only ruled Air France failed to apply its commercial policy, which the company has never challenged.” That policy says if a customer with a round-trip ticket does not take the outward flight, there is a ‘flat rate adjustment’ of €75 if they want to use the return ticket.

It justified the €75 charge by referring to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which said such adjustments were standard and due to “market segmentation”.

“It is not unreasonable for [airlines] to assume that if passengers do not use their first booking, without contacting the airline, it is unlikely they will use any subsequent bookings on the same ticket.”

It said airlines needed to be able to “determine the optimal capacity to schedule for that flight sector, and maximise the efficient use of their assets. This minimises ‘no shows’, reducing the need to ‘overbook’ by allowing more accurate forecast of passenger load.”

Most airlines’ Terms and Conditions contain a “coupon sequence and use” portion with rules if the outbound flight is not used.

If contacted in advance, particularly in the case of illness or other “force majeure”, most say they will try to recalculate the fare. But if you do not show up for the outbound flight airlines including BA and Flybe will cancel all onwards connections and the return.

Point-to-point airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair, whose flights are single tickets rather than returns, do not cancel returns if the outward bound flight is unused.