Contracts between transport infrastructure owners regarding ticket sales and passenger seat reservations

The article addresses the issue of legal regulation governing organizational relationships arising between transport infrastructure owners in the context of ticket sales and passenger seat reservations, with a particular emphasis on air and maritime transport. However, the conclusions drawn are applicable to reservation systems across all modes of transportation. Currently, a consensus is lacking in academic discourse regarding the concept of reservation, both in general (within the framework of booking notes, code-sharing agreements, etc.) and specifically in relation to contracts between transport infrastructure owners. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation unequivocally asserts that reservation invariably constitutes a service, i.e., a type of proprietary agreement. This article presents the characteristics of contracts between owners of transportation infrastructure in the context of ticket sales and passenger seat reservations on transport. Based on this, an assessment is given of existing approaches to understanding booking within the framework of contracts between owners of transportation infrastructure. The conducted work culminates in the formulation of an original definition of the contracts under investigation, which is proposed for legislative enactment within the sub-section of Chapter 40 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation entitled “Organization of Transportation”.