Easyjet passengers who flew on three dates in August handed free £350
Passengers affected by easyJet cancelling 27 return flights between the UK and Portugal across three days in mid-August are being urged to claim up to £350 in compensation, sooner rather than later. Between 15-17 August, easyJet - which is rivalled by Ryanair, Jet2, TUI and more - cancelled numerous flights between Luton and Gatwick Airports and Porto and Lisbon, in addition to Manchester and Madeira.
Compensation is now due to a little known rule that separates airline staff strikes from air traffic control or airport staff strikes. Airlines are liable for cancellations caused by strikes that were within the airline’s control, a ruling that airline staff strikes fall under.
Anton Radchenko, who heads up travel compensation specialists AirAdvisor, which has helped 250,000 air passengers worldwide claim for disrupted journeys explains: “You can claim compensation if your journey is disrupted as a result of certain types of strike action, namely airline staff strikes, but not air traffic control or airport staff strikes.
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“For flights within between the UK and EU countries the compensation that you can claim usually sits between £220 and £520 per passenger. This advice could be particularly relevant for Brits whose summer holidays to Portugal were disrupted by airline staff strike action across three days in mid-August, who depending on the distance of their flights could be due between £220 ad £350 in compensation
“Some travellers believe that strikes fall under ‘extraordinary circumstances’ and therefore invalidate compensation, however this is not always the case." The AirAdvisor expert continues: “Despite what airlines may want you to believe, journeys disrupted by airline staff strikes are eligible for compensation, but airport or air traffic control strikes are not.
“The bottom line is, passengers are due compensation if their flight being disrupted was a result of strikes that were within the airlines’ control as was the case with easyJet’s last-minute cancellations in August. What’s more, is that if you haven’t claimed yet, even after 6 weeks you still have a very high chance of claiming compensation if it’s due. However, we do advise making claims as quickly as possible, as airlines often have backlogs to clear."