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Your rights per country

No-show clause in the Netherlands: can the airline cancel your return flight?

Mixedmedium confidence

The Amsterdam district court accepted KLM's amended no-show policy after a case brought by the Consumentenbond. No ban, but conditions apply.

A no-show clause sits in the conditions of carriage of nearly every airline. If you do not use a segment of your ticket, usually the outbound, the airline may cancel or reprice the rest. Whether that clause holds up is decided by the courts of the country where you bought the ticket.

What this means for you

Case law in this country is divided or conditional: the no-show clause may be valid under conditions (for instance if the airline is transparent and offers a force-majeure exception). There is no certainty that your return is kept if you miss the outbound. The risk sits with you; check your airline's conditions of carriage. This is not legal advice.

What the court or regulator decided

KLM had to add a force-majeure exception and be transparent about the clause. A passenger who uses a new ticket on the same route within 24 hours pays no surcharge. The core principle, that a missed outbound can affect the return, survived. That is why the Netherlands is rated mixed.

Source: insideflyer.nl

The European picture (June 2026)

As of June 2026 there is no EU-wide ban on the no-show clause. The European Parliament wants the revision of Regulation 261/2004 to state that a return flight may not be cancelled merely because the outbound was missed, but that revision has not been adopted and would apply from 2027 at the earliest. Until then, the country of purchase decides.

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Other countries

Sources reviewed in June 2026. Not legal advice: always check your airline's conditions of carriage and seek advice if in doubt.