Flight failure due to strike: Ryanair must compensate passengers in Luxembourg

Is a strike considered force majeure or not? If so, this exempts airlines to pay compensation for consequent flight cancellations. If not, then affected passengers can claim up to 600 euros. This question is repeatedly fought in European courts.

Now, a Luxembourg peace court has ruled in favor of two passengers: the Irish airline Ryanair has to compensate them for cancellation of flights due to a pilot strike in the summer of 2018. According to the European Consumer Center (ECC) Luxembourg, the low-cost airline has to pay 250 euros each according to the final judgments.

The airline had previously refused to pay compensation, pointing to "force majeure". Under EU law, Ryanair said in July, no compensation is due if "the union acts inappropriately and completely beyond the control of the airline". Passenger helicopter portals criticized Ryanair's attitude as unacceptable at the time.

However, according to the Peace Court in Luxembourg, the strike was a situation involving a duty to pay compensation, a justice spokesman confirmed on request. As early as mid-2018, the court also awarded two Lufthansa passengers EUR 250 each because of several hours' delay due to a strike.

The director of the Consumer Center in Luxembourg, Karin Basenach, said the ruling shows that consumers could enforce their rights against major airlines. The ECC remains a contact for damaged passengers.

In April 2018, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that airlines may be required to pay compensation to passengers even in wildcat strikes. However, this must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Background of the procedure was the wild strike of TUIfly coworkers in the autumn of 2016. The local courts Hanover and Duesseldorf begged the ECJ to clarify whether wild strikes within the meaning of the European air passenger rights regulation represent an extraordinary circumstance.

According to the EU passenger rights regulation passengers are entitled to cancellations and delays of more than three hours on a flight distance of up to 1500 kilometers 250 euros per person. With distances of 1500 to 3500 kilometers it is 400 euros, with more than 3500 kilometers it is 600 euros.