Lo Studio legale associato Bertolini Fusi, composto da Avvocato fondatori, avvocati collaboratori e impiegati amministrativi, è a Vostra disposizione in Piazza Antonio Vallisneri 4 a Reggio nell'Emilia.
BERTOLINI-FUSI ASSOCIATED
LAW FIRM
2025 - BERTOLINI-FUSI ASSOCIATED LAW FIRM
Piazza Antonio Vallisneri, 4 - 42121 Reggio nell'Emilia
vat n. 01771590351
Phone: 0522-453468
e-mail: amministrazione2@studiobertolinifusi.it
BOOKING ONLINE?
PAY ATTENTION TO THE CHECKBOXES!
If you buy a ticket with Ryanair and your flight is delayed, be prepared to sue in Ireland.
A couple of Italian citizens bought tickets online for a domestic Alghero/Treviso flight. However, their flight was heavily delayed and was even diverted to Venice.
The couple sued the airline, seeking an order for payment of €517.28, and won the first instance before the Justice of the Peace. The Court, appealed in second instance, rejected the couple's claim, since, while acknowledging the applicability of EU regulations (Regulation 261/04), it specified that the conduct of the two claimants had allowed for a derogation from this regulation.
In fact, the Court ruled that the purchase of the ticket online, by ticking the box using the point and click system, is equivalent to written form, with the acceptance of the clause which provides that disputes arising from the signed contract must be resolved only before the Irish court. The “tick” therefore counts as signing the contract, which can be downloaded and read by opening a link available to customers: in this way, the “agreement” to derogate from the jurisdiction in favor of the consumer is rendered valid.
In this case, even the Montreal Convention (28 May 1999), ratified in Italy in 2004, cannot be applied, since the Convention concerns only international flights and not domestic flights.
Nor can EU Regulation 1215/2012 be applied, as the latter applies exclusively to transport contracts that provide for the combination of transport services with accommodation for an overall price.
The couple, therefore, appealed to the Court of Cassation, which rejected the appeal and, with judgment no. 8802 of 03/04/2025, United Civil Sections, confirmed that the preferential treatment provided by the EU for the protection of consumers must be excluded, and that "a clause derogating from the ordinary criteria for the allocation of disputes must be considered validly agreed upon."
In the case at hand, according to the Supreme Court, the requirement of written form had been met, considering that the derogation was contained in the general conditions of the contract, a contract that could be consulted on the company's website: consequently, by ticking the box of the point and click the customer accepted the aforementioned derogation.
Always pay attention to checkboxes!