OLG Frankfurt: On the place of jurisdiction for internet bookings

If a flight ticket of a foreign airline is booked via a German-language website that is maintained entirely from abroad in terms of technology and content, German courts do not have international jurisdiction. The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main ruled that there is no connection between the booking process and a German branch. Due to the fundamental importance of the case, an appeal to the BGH was permitted.

The plaintiff asserted a claim for damages against the defendant French airline for canceling a contract of carriage. He booked a ticket for a flight from San Francisco to Paris in First Class and an onward flight from Paris to London in Business Class via the website “airfrance.de” in December 2017 for the summer of 2018 for a total of just under €600.00. After transferring the amount, the booking was confirmed. The plaintiff received an electronic ticket with a reservation code. The ticket indicated “DIR – WEB Allemagne, Frankfurt am Main” as the place of issue. A telephone number with the Frankfurt area code “069” was given as the contact before the start of the journey. The imprint of the homepage states: “Air France in Germany: Air France Direktion für Deutschland, Zeil 5, 60613 Frankfurt am Main”.

One day after the booking, the defendant informed the plaintiff via the e-mail address “Customer Care Europe” in English that the ticket had been canceled due to a system error. The amount paid was subsequently refunded. At the end of January 2018, a comparable flight would have cost €10,578.86.

The plaintiff believes that the defendant was unable to cancel the ticket effectively. He is claiming damages in the amount of the objective flight price (€ 10,578.86). The Regional Court dismissed the claim as inadmissible as it did not have international jurisdiction. The plaintiff’s appeal is directed against this. It was also unsuccessful before the OLG.

The Regional Court was right to deny its international jurisdiction, the Higher Regional Court ruled. In particular, international jurisdiction did not follow from Art. 7 No. 5 Brussels I Regulation. According to this provision, a party domiciled in the territory of a Member State (in this case France) could be sued in another Member State (in this case Germany) in disputes arising from the operation of a branch, agency or other establishment before the court of the place where the branch, agency or other establishment is located.

The marketing department and the headquarters of the managing director for Germany are located in Frankfurt am Main. However, the confirmation and ticket were not issued by employees there. The ticket booked on the internet and issued electronically also had no other connection to the Frankfurt branch within the meaning of Art. 7 No. 5 Brussels I Regulation. In particular, the German-language website of the defendant was not operated from the Frankfurt branch. The content of the website could not be changed from there, nor were technical facilities available there on which the website data was stored. On the contrary, the defendant had stated that the data of the German-language website of the defendant was located at an external provider in Paris.

The plaintiff refers unsuccessfully to the information in the defendant’s legal notice. They alone show that there is also a presence in Germany. However, the exclusively French e-mail address stated in the legal notice indicates that the website is operated from Paris.

The branch in Germany was therefore not involved in the legal relationship between the airline and the passenger. Purely legal appearance aspects could not justify international jurisdiction.

The Senate has allowed an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice. The question of international jurisdiction for internet bookings is of fundamental importance.

Author: Marian Härtel

Marian Härtel ist Rechtsanwalt und Fachanwalt für IT-Recht mit einer über 25-jährigen Erfahrung als Unternehmer und Berater in den Bereichen Games, E-Sport, Blockchain, SaaS und Künstliche Intelligenz. Seine Beratungsschwerpunkte umfassen neben dem IT-Recht insbesondere das Urheberrecht, Medienrecht sowie Wettbewerbsrecht. Er betreut schwerpunktmäßig Start-ups, Agenturen und Influencer, die er in strategischen Fragen, komplexen Vertragsangelegenheiten sowie bei Investitionsprojekten begleitet. Dabei zeichnet sich seine Beratung durch einen interdisziplinären Ansatz aus, der juristische Expertise und langjährige unternehmerische Erfahrung miteinander verbindet. Ziel seiner Tätigkeit ist stets, Mandanten praxisorientierte Lösungen anzubieten und rechtlich fundierte Unterstützung bei der Umsetzung innovativer Geschäftsmodelle zu gewährleisten.