If your plane is cancelled, you have the right to passage with another aircraft as soon as possible.

And if the airline you were supposed to fly with is unable to help you with another departure, you are entitled to purchase a new ticket with another airline that your initial airline must pay for, according to a decision by the Copenhagen Municipal Court.

Normally passengers whose departure has been cancelled are offered a new trip with the same company, or have their money refunded. It is extremely rare that passengers are offered a new ticket with another airline – something that airlines must do according to a 2005 EU directive.

The Consumer Council has been aware of the fact that airlines do not follow the directive for some time, and is satisfied at the court verdict.

“It is the first time that we see an airline judged to re-book onto another airline. This is a daily problem and this verdict is an example to show that you should hang on to your rights,” Consumer Council Mads Mølgaard Bräuner tells dr.dk.

He says he hopes that the verdict will make Danish passengers demand their rights if they are in a situation in which their departure has been cancelled for some reason or other.

“Airlines have a duty to inform passengers of their rights, or to inform them about the EU directive, which must be available at the airport. Otherwise it is available on the Internet,” Bräuner says.

According to dr.dk, the judgment at Copenhagen Municipal Court came after a passenger booked a flight with KLM to Ghana with her family, to visit a family member posted to the West African country.

After several KLM re-bookings, involving a cutback of the family holiday from three to two weeks, the plaintiff bought new tickets for the family with Egypt Air and demanded payment from KLM for the difference between the original KLM tickets and the extra cost with Egypt Air.

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