Claim for standard compensation after pilot strike is not time-barredlotstreik er ikke foreldet

A passenger was entitled to EUR 250 in standard compensation when the flight was cancelled due to a pilot strike in SAS. The airline refused to pay compensation, and a complaint was submitted to the Conciliation Board after about two years and ten months.

The right to standard compensation follows from the EU Air Passenger Regulation, which has been incorporated into the EEA Agreement and implemented in Norway through regulations to the Aviation Act. The question inthe Supreme Court was whether the limitation period for claims for standard compensation follows the general three-year time limit in the Limitation Act or a special two-year time limit in the Aviation Act.

The disputed provision in section 10-29 of the Aviation Act states that claims for compensation "under this chapter" lapse if legal action is not instituted within two years. The majority of the Supreme Court took the wording to be uclear, and found, in the light of other sources of law, that the provision should be understood as only applying to claims based on the liability rules in the relevant chapter of the Aviation Act, and not to claims based on Regulations to the chapter. Thus, the general three-year time limit in the Limitation Act applied, and the claim was not time-barred when the complaint was submitted to the Conciliation Board.

A minority of two judges found that the wording of the Act clearly expresses that the two-year rule includes claims for compensation that are based on Regulations to the relevant chapter of the Act.

Read the whole judgment (Norwegian only) (PDF)

Areas of law: Limitation. Tort law. Section 10-29 of the Aviation Act. 

Key paragraphs: 39–40, 54, 57, 60, 63, 68

Justices: Falkanger, Falch, Høgetveit Berg, Sæther, Stenvik