Air passengers entitled to compensation in the event of an airline strike

The European Court of Justice confirmed that air passengers are entitled to compensation in the event of a flight cancelled due to a strike of the airline’s crew.

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The European Court of Justice has confirmed on Wednesday, the 6th of October 2021, that air passengers should be entitled to compensation if their flight was cancelled due to a strike of the airline’s crew. Potential exceptional cases should be reviewed on an individual basis.

The ruling has been announced in regards to a case brought before the Court by a passenger who experienced flight cancellation in 2019. His Eurowings flight from Salzburg (Austria) to Berlin (Germany) was cancelled due to a strike carried out by ​​the Lufthansa and Independent Flight Attendants Union (UFO). Eurowings is part of the Lufthansa Group and ultimately Eurowings’ crew also joined the strike, causing multiple cancellations.

Eurowings claimed that the company did as much as possible to minimise the effect of the strike and that the situation falls under the category of the so-called “extraordinary circumstances”. In other words, the airline claimed the passenger is not entitled to compensation for the cancelled Eurowings flight.

The European Court of Justice has now ruled in the favour of passengers. If your flight was cancelled due to a strike of the airline’s employees — such as the 2019 Lufthansa and Eurowings strike — you can claim compensation. 

Flight-Delayed.com can help you with claiming the compensation based on the ‘no win, no fee’ basis. We have legal teams in 9 countries and won 98% of court cases against airlines.

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