Croatia has identified reforming the EU's air passenger rights laws as a priority for its Council presidency | Javier Soriano/AFP via Getty Images EU court broadens air passenger rights to claim compensation

Air passengers have the right to claim compensation in one country for a connecting flight even if the delay took place in another country with another airline, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled today.

The case concerns a flight from Hamburg to London on British Airways, and then another flight from London to Madrid and on to San Sebastian, also in Spain, on Iberia; the Madrid-San Sebastian flight was canceled.

Passengers asked flightright, a Germany-based claims agency, to ask Iberia for compensation. However, a Hamburg court was unsure if it should take the case since the delay happened in Spain, and the claim was against an airline that played no part in the Hamburg-London journey.

The European court said that since the journey was booked on a single ticket, "the compensation claims for the cancellation of the final leg of the journey may be brought before the courts of the place of departure of the first leg of the journey even if they are brought against the air carrier in charge of the final leg."

Croatia has identified reforming the EU's air passenger rights laws as a priority for its Council presidency, and promised to update current legislation with a host of rulings made by the CJEU.