All who follow the news or social media platforms already know that airports currently face massive flight delays and cancellations around Europe 🌍 But, do passengers know what to do when a situation like that occurs, or are they just confusedly waiting for answers from the airport? Are passengers informed of what their rights and options are? If you are one of those who heard about problems but not about solutions, this article is for you👇
So what is the real problem?
An airline's employees (usually low-cost airlines) refuse to work under their current conditions. They hope to gain something from the employer, such as a salary increase, better pension or more holiday. This causes disruption because, after post-pandemic, there is not enough staff to run operations, meaning that services can't go ahead like normal.
Who can strike, and what does that mean for me?
It's not only individual airline strikes that can affect travellers in the aviation industry. Airports, air traffic controllers, baggage handlers, airport firefighters and ground staff are just some examples of the groups that can also strike, causing disruption to travel. The main difference between them is what rights you are going to have. There are two scenarios:
First scenario. A strike was caused by other staff members before mentioned 🦺👨🚒 A situation like that is an “extraordinary circumstance” that the airline couldn’t affect. Therefore, you have no right to get financial compensation. However, you still have some rights. First of all, in case you are not delayed but cancelled, the airline needs to give you (free of charge) three options:
- a full or partial refund of your original ticket and a return flight to your original point of departure if needed,
- the earliest possible (any) alternative transport to your final destination,
- a new ticket to your final destination at a later date of your choosing, subject to availability.
On top of that, If you are waiting until the next day (delay/cancellation), you will be entitled to hotel accommodation and transport between the airport. If this is not automatically provided, you may have to purchase it yourself and claim it back at a later date with the obtained receipts.
Second scenario. A strike was caused by airline staff 👨✈️
If airline staff make a disruption, passengers are eligible to get financial compensation (between €250 to €600) + before mentioned three options for their flight ticket + accommodation if overnight stay.
Unfortunately, you cannot find out the exact cause of the flight problems yourself, so you have to contact us. Please, be aware that cancellation needs to be announced less than 14 days before departure to be eligible for financial compensation. Also, the good news is that we can still claim your delayed or cancelled flight up to 3 years back. So, if you have any flight like that, don’t hesitate to
Latest news
Only in the last 2 months have multiple strikes had a negative impact on European airports such as Barcelona El Prat airport, Frankfurt airport, Faro airport, and Milan-Bergamo airport, where people were stuck at the airport during the night. Mainly flights from Spanish cities like Barcelona, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca, were affected by the RyanAir strike, which should reportedly last until January.
TODAY – 7th September begins the second pilot’s strike by German Airline – Lufthansa. The first one took place last week, when approximately 800 flights were cancelled from and to the country's two largest transport hubs - Munich and Frankfurt am Main. The situation affected around 130,000 passengers. We hope that the parties involved will soon agree on the conditions and travellers will not face such complications.
If you think you are one of them, let's fill out the form on our website, and we will check that out. It won't take more than 10-15 minutes, and you can get up to €600 💶
