Airline strike compensation: when a strike does and does not exempt the airline

Who is striking decides

The label the airline uses — “industrial action”, “operational disruption”, “strike affecting our operations” — does not decide anything. Ask who was striking, who employs them, and what the strike did to your flight.

Pilot and cabin crew strikes

A strike by the airline’s own pilots or cabin crew — Lufthansa, Ryanair, easyJet, Vueling, SAS, Finnair have all had them — is not an extraordinary circumstance, however lawful and however well announced. Pay and rostering disputes are part of running an airline and within its control; so is the decision not to settle (Airhelp v SAS). A cancellation announced less than 14 days ahead, or an arrival delay of 3 hours or more, earns the fixed compensation. Airlines usually cancel a few days before the strike day, inside the 7-day window, so the replacement flight rarely rescues them.

Airport, security and ground-handling strikes

Strikes by people the airline does not employ — airport security, airport-employed handlers, fuel suppliers, ATC — are outside its control and can be extraordinary. The catch is the proof: on a strike day most flights still operate, so the airline must show that the restriction hit your flight, not that a strike was happening somewhere in the airport. One frequent trap: “ground handling strike” at an airline’s hub where the handlers are a subsidiary of the same group (Iberia Airport Services for Iberia and Vueling in Spain, Lufthansa’s own ground services at Frankfurt). Group staff are the airline’s own staff.

Air traffic control strikes

Controller strikes — France’s are the most frequent — are extraordinary for the flights the restriction actually held or cancelled. The airline still has to produce the ATC regulation and its time window, still owes re-routing on another airline or by train where that is sooner, and still owes meals and a hotel. The air traffic control page explains the “particular aircraft, particular day” test and the four cases where the ATC excuse fails.

The line the Court of Justice drew

In Krüsemann (C-195/17) the Court held that a “wildcat” strike by an airline’s own staff, triggered by a restructuring announcement, was part of the normal exercise of the carrier’s activity and not extraordinary. In Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20) it went further: even a lawful, union-organised pilots’ strike over pay is inherent in running an airline and does not exempt it from compensation. Staff pay and conditions are within the airline’s control; so is the decision not to settle.

By contrast, strikes by people the airline does not employ — air-traffic controllers, airport security, ground handlers employed by the airport, fuel suppliers — are outside its control and count as extraordinary, provided the airline shows they actually affected your flight. Controller strikes have their own page: air traffic control delays and strikes.

What “actually affected your flight” means

On strike days a large share of flights still operate. The airline must show that your flight was cancelled or delayed because of the strike restriction — an air-traffic-control instruction to cut a percentage of departures, a closed security lane, a handling company that did not turn up — not because it chose to cancel your flight to protect another. Ask for the specific restriction and its timing. The burden of proof is the airline’s throughout (Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07).

Strike cancellations announced in advance

Airlines usually know a strike is coming and cancel flights a few days ahead. That is inside the 7-day window, so unless the replacement flight departed at most 1 hour early and arrived less than 2 hours late, compensation is due — when the strikers are the airline’s own staff. Announced 14 days or more ahead, no compensation is due whoever strikes; the refund or re-routing right remains.

Five realistic scenarios

Lufthansa pilots’ strike, Frankfurt → Rome cancelled four days before departure, rebooked the next day. Own staff, inside 7 days, next-day alternative: €250 each (Airhelp v SAS reasoning), plus a hotel if you were already travelling.

French air-traffic-controllers’ strike, easyJet Gatwick → Nice cancelled on the day. Third-party strike: no £220 if easyJet shows the flight was cut under the ATC restriction. Refund or re-routing, meals and, if needed, a hotel are still owed.

Ryanair cabin-crew strike in Spain, Madrid → Dublin delayed 3 h 40 because the crew did not report. Own staff, 1,450 km: €250 each.

Heathrow security staff strike, BA London → Amsterdam cancelled three weeks ahead as part of a thinned schedule. No compensation: 14+ days’ notice. BA must refund or rebook, on KLM if it has no seat that day.

Airport ground-handling strike at Lisbon, TAP Lisbon → Paris delayed 5 hours; the handlers are employed by TAP’s subsidiary. The airline will argue “airport strike”; if the handlers are the airline group’s own staff, the strike is internal and €250 is due.

Your rights whatever the cause

Refund or re-routing, and care while you wait, apply to every cancellation and long delay, strike or not (Articles 8 and 9 have no extraordinary-circumstances clause). An airline that tells you to “rebook yourself” and reimburses nothing is in breach even when the strike is extraordinary. Keep receipts and claim them.

UK, Switzerland and national strike rules

UK261 keeps the pre-2021 case law (Krüsemann), so a strike by the airline’s own staff is not a defence on UK departures either. Airhelp v SAS (2021) is persuasive rather than binding in the UK; British Airways and others argue the point, and ADR decisions have gone both ways, so cite the reasoning and expect to escalate. In Switzerland the cancellation rules are applied identically. Some countries regulate the strikes themselves: Italy guarantees protected departure bands and strike-free periods, which matter for what an airline could have operated — see flight compensation in Italy — and in Spain the enforcement body AESA decides strike claims with a decision that binds the airline.

How to claim after a strike

Write to the operating airline naming the strike, who was striking and, for an own-staff strike, the case law; for a third-party strike, ask for proof that your flight was affected by the restriction. The claim letter guide has the wording, and the generator writes the letter from your flight with the strike paragraph in place.