Dutch consumers association Consumentenbond said on Monday it is to press ahead taking airline KLM to court after talks on scrapping the ‘no show’ clause in its terms and conditions failed to produce a result.

The clause states that all the following flights attached to the ticket are cancelled if a passenger fails to turn up for a particular flight. So if someone misses an outward flight, the return journey will be automatically cancelled unless the passenger pays a hefty fee.

These can mount up to €3,000 for a transatlantic flight, the Consumentenbond says.

‘The balance between what airlines can do and what passengers have to do has become completely distorted,’ director Bart Combée said in a statement on Monday.

‘Passengers are punished financially if they cannot use a seat they have paid for, whatever the reason,’ he said. ‘They don’t get the money for the seat they did not use back, but the airline can sell it again to someone else.’

The Consumentenbond is one of nine European consumer groups hoping to force airlines to get rid of the clause in a concerted campaign. British Airways, Air France, Swiss Air, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Virgin are also under fire.