Air Berlin plc & Co. Luftverkehrs KG v Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände - Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband eV.
Date: 2015-01-15
14. According to the referring court, it is necessary to take account of the consumer protection objective of Article 23(1) of Regulation No 1008/2008, which is apparent from recital 16 to that regulation as well as from the wording of Article 23 and its title, and which is to ensure that there is information and transparency with regard to the prices for air services (judgment in ebookers.com Deutschland , C‑112/11, EU:C:2012:487, paragraph 13). According to recital 16, that price transparency must enable customers to compare effectively the prices for air services of different air carriers. The referring court states that Article 23 was introduced in order to combat the former practice of air service providers of publishing fares that excluded taxes, charges and fuel surcharges (see page 10 of the Proposal for a Regulation COM(2006) 396 final of the European Parliament and of the Council on common rules for the operation of air transport services in the Community (recast), presented by the European Commission, and points 8.1 and 8.4 of the Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 31 May 2007 on that proposal (OJ 2007 C 175, p. 85)).
29. The expression ‘at the start of any booking process’ used in the fourth sentence of Article 23(1) means that optional price supplements must be indicated at the start of the booking process itself, enabling customers to decide whether they do in fact wish to avail themselves of the supplementary service concerned (see, to that effect, judgment in ebookers.com Deutschland , EU:C:2012:487, paragraph 15).
33. The Court has already had occasion to point out that it is evident from both the title of Article 23 of Regulation No 1008/2008 and the wording of paragraph 1 thereof that that provision seeks to ensure that there is information and transparency with regard to the prices for air services and that, consequently, it contributes to safeguarding protection of customers having recourse to those services (judgments in ebookers.com Deutschland , EU:C:2012:487, paragraph 13, and Vueling Airlines , C‑487/12, EU:C:2014:2232, paragraph 32).
34. It thus follows from recital 16 to Regulation No 1008/2008 that the obligation imposed on air carriers ‘at all times’ to indicate the final price to be paid is necessary in order to enable customers to compare effectively the prices for air services of different air carriers, in accordance with the objective that it should be possible effectively to compare prices for air services, pursued by Article 23(1) of that regulation (see, to that effect, judgment in Vueling Airlines , EU:C:2014:2232, paragraph 33).
44. On the contrary, it is evident from the actual wording of the third sentence of Article 23(1) of Regulation No 1008/2008 that the obligation to specify at least the air fare or air rate, as well as the taxes, airport charges and other charges, surcharges or fees, where these items have been added to the air fare or air rate, is in addition to the obligation under the second sentence of Article 23(1) to indicate the final price.