In a judgement, the Munich Regional Court I dealt with the risks of buying tickets online. The plaintiff asserted claims for damages against the defendant, which operates an internet portal for travel, for breach of contractual duties of disclosure.
The plaintiff wanted to book 4 flights for himself and his family from Stuttgart to San Jose in California, USA, on the defendant's internet portal. However, the plaintiff accidentally clicked on San Jose, Costa Rica as the destination. There was no further reference to the selected destination during the booking process. On the booking confirmation, only the names of the cities with the international airport abbreviations were mentioned, in particular "San Jose (SJO)". The invoice also only mentioned the names of the cities without the names of the states, and the subject line stated "Service: Only flight Publish Central/Southame". The plaintiff only became aware of the booking of the flights to San Jose in Costa Rica when checking in at Stuttgart airport. The plaintiff then purchased 4 new tickets from Stuttgart via Atlanta to San Jose in the USA for a total of 9,037.40 EUR.
The plaintiff argues that he should have been informed again by the defendant at the time of booking or at the latest in the booking confirmation or in the invoice that he had booked a flight to San Jose in Costa Rica. The defendant had breached its duty to inform as the operator of an internet portal. The plaintiff claimed the difference between the travel prices for the originally booked flights and the subsequently booked flights to the USA.
Without success.
The competent single judge of the 34th Civil Chamber dismissed the action.
The defendant had no duty to inform the plaintiff again about the destination he had chosen on the Internet portal and the differences between San Jose in the USA and San Jose in Costa Rica.
Literally it is called in addition:
"Rather, by using the Internet portal, the plaintiff is consciously allowing himself to be exposed to the possibilities and advantages, and thus also to the risks, of booking on the Internet. One of the risks of booking via the Internet is that the customer may inadvertently "click" when selecting various options. In turn, the defendant is obligated to take precautions so that the customer is aware that he has to make a choice between several destination options and that these choices are clearly presented to the customer to avoid confusion. To the conviction of the court, the defendant has fulfilled this here.
[...]
For the plaintiff, the risk that falls solely within his sphere of responsibility has thus materialised. He must therefore allow himself to be held to his booking of the flight to Costa Rica. There was no breach of duty on the part of the defendant.
(Proceedings of the Regional Court Munich I, file no. 34 O 1300/08, judgement of 17.6.2008; the judgement is final)
Source: Press release of the Regional Court Munich I of 24 September 2008, Press Spokesman VRiLG Dr. Frank Tholl, Prielmayerstraße 7, 80335 Munich, E-mail: poststelle@lg-m1.bayern.de, Internet: www.justiz.bayern.de/gericht/lg/m1/
Goldberg Attorneys at Law, Wuppertal-Solingen 2008
Attorney at Law Michael Ullrich, LL.M.(Information Law)
m.ullrich@goldberg.de
