On August 14, Flightright, the compensation-claim processing platform, filed a lawsuit at a regional court in Frankfurt disputing Ryanair’s opinion that industrial action is “an exceptional circumstance” which allows the low-cost carrier to reject any claims by passengers for compensation.
Flightright is arguing that Ryanair has: “caused such a strike through years of wage-dumping and salami tactics in talks with the trade unions,” describing the strike as “home-made” and “the logical consequence of Ryanair’s questionable personnel policy.”
Ryanair’s response was simply to confirm that it “fully complies” with EU compensation rules that have been set down under the EU261 regulation.
While Ryanair has managed to put a halt to current strike action from Irish pilots through entering into mediation with the Irish pilots’ union IALPA, the situation in Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden and Germany is less stable, the carrier having had to recently cancel nearly 400 flights owing to a number of strikes beyond Ireland that related to working conditions.
At the end of July, Ryanair, along with easyJet, Wizz Air and IAG submitted a complaint to the EU commission over striking French air traffic controllers (ATCs). The airlines argued that France is breaking EU law by not allowing flights over the country during strikes, meaning passengers flying between member states not affected by the action are being denied their freedom to travel. At the time, Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CEO, stated: “We call on Europe’s governments and the EU Commission to take urgent and decisive action to ensure that ATC providers are fully staffed and that overflights are not affected when national strikes take place.”
Through a combination of striking French ATCs along with its own staff shortages, Ryanair saw a total of 1,100 flights canceled in May alone.
