EU261 Rights Independent

Current position

Your rights have not changed yet. The reform is now law — Regulation (EU) 2026/2202, published 2 October 2026 — but it applies only from 23 October 2027. It keeps the three-hour threshold and the €250–€600 amounts. What changes in 2027 →

Checked

Krüsemann C-195/17

Your flight was hit by a strike

Strikes are the one area where the answer genuinely flips depending on who walked out. The distinction is internal versus external.

Checked against its sources

The short answer

It depends who struck. The airline's own staff, whether the strike is official or wildcat: usually payable. Air traffic control or airport staff: usually not.

The one thing to know: A strike by the airline's own staff is an internal event, even when a union calls it lawfully and gives notice. A strike by third parties — air traffic controllers, airport or ground-handling staff — is external and can be extraordinary.

How it actually works

The test is the general one for extraordinary circumstances: the event must not be inherent in the normal running of the airline, and it must be outside its actual control. The airline must then prove it could not have avoided the cancellation or delay with all reasonable measures Art 5(3). Recital 14 mentions strikes, but the Court reads that as meaning strikes that are external to the airline.

Own staff, wildcat
In Krüsemann (C-195/17, 17 April 2018) a large part of TUIfly's flight crew reported sick at short notice after a surprise restructuring announcement. The Court held this was not extraordinary: restructuring and the staff's reaction to it are part of normal business.
Own staff, official
In Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20, Grand Chamber, 23 March 2021) a pilots' strike called by a trade union, lawful and on notice, was not extraordinary either. A strike by the airline's own staff is “internal”, including when a union calls it.
The narrow exception
The same judgment says an own-staff strike can be extraordinary if it originates from demands that only public authorities can satisfy, because the airline then cannot settle it. A dispute about pay or conditions is not that.
Group companies
The Commission's 2024 guidelines, citing Eurowings (C-613/20), add that a strike by the operating airline's staff in solidarity with a strike at its parent company is not extraordinary.
Third-party strikes
Strikes by air traffic controllers or airport staff fall outside the airline's activity and may be extraordinary (Airhelp v SAS, paragraphs 42–43). “May” matters: the airline still has to link the strike to your flight and show reasonable measures.
Ask who struck
The refusal letter will say "strike." Ask specifically whose. That single question often changes the answer.
See how this defence gets beaten →

A third-party strike: what the airline still has to prove

Even when the strike is genuinely external, the defence covers only what the strike actually caused and could not reasonably have been avoided.

  • A direct link to your flight. If the strike thinned the schedule, ask why your flight was among those cut while others ran.
  • Reasonable measures, including rerouting. In Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (C-74/19, 2020) the Court held that rebooking a passenger on the airline's own flight the next day is not enough if another direct or indirect flight, on any carrier, would have arrived sooner, unless that was an intolerable sacrifice for the airline.
  • Planning. In Eglītis (C-294/10, 2011) the Court said an airline must build in a certain reserve of time to operate the flight once the extraordinary circumstances end. A strike announced days ahead gives it time to plan. Ask what it did with that time.
  • Timing of a cancellation. If the airline told you of the cancellation at least 14 days before departure, no compensation is due whoever struck Art 5(1)(c).

Ask the airline, in writing

  1. Whose staff went on strike: the airline's own employees, a company in its group, a contractor it chose, the airport or air traffic control?
  2. What the strike was about, if it claims the “public authorities” exception.
  3. When the strike was announced, and what it did between then and your flight.
  4. Which rerouting options, including other airlines, it considered for you and why it rejected them.

What you are owed whatever the cause

A strike, even one the airline cannot be blamed for, does not end its duty to look after you. Extraordinary circumstances only switch off the fixed compensation in Article 7. They do not switch off the rest.

Care while you wait
Meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or emails, and a hotel plus transport to it if you are stuck overnight Art 9. For a delay this starts at 2, 3 or 4 hours depending on distance Art 6(1). In McDonagh (C-12/11, 2013) the volcanic-ash closure of European airspace was extraordinary, and the airline still owed care for the whole wait, with no time limit.
Refund or rerouting
If the flight is cancelled, you choose between a refund of the unused ticket within seven days and rerouting at the earliest opportunity Art 5(1)(a), Art 8. If a delay reaches five hours you can abandon the trip and take the refund instead Art 6(1)(iii).
If the airline did not provide it
Buy what is reasonable, keep every receipt and claim it back. The Court limits this to costs that were necessary, appropriate and reasonable, so a sandwich and a mid-range hotel, not a suite.

Stranded overnight

No hotel from the airline?

Book a reasonable room near the airport yourself and keep the receipt, then claim the cost back from the airline. You recover what was necessary, appropriate and reasonable: a mid-range hotel, not a suite (McDonagh, C-12/11).

Hotels nearest each airport, on Agoda. These are affiliate links: we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. Disclosure.

What changes from 23 October 2027

Regulation (EU) 2026/2202 adds a non-exhaustive list of extraordinary circumstances as a new Annex to Regulation 261 new Art 6c. It applies from 23 October 2027, not before. Two entries deal with strikes:

  • Annex (3)(g): “strikes at essential service providers such as an airport managing body, air navigation service providers, or groundhandling service providers which air carriers do not effectively choose”, provided they are beyond the actual control of the airline or its group.
  • Annex (3)(h): “strikes at the operating air carrier, provided that those strikes originate from demands that only public authorities can satisfy and that are therefore beyond the actual control of the operating air carrier or the group of companies to which that air carrier belongs.”

Point (h) is the Airhelp v SAS exception in statutory form. Point (g) leaves out ground handlers the airline chose itself, and both require the strike to be beyond the control of the airline's whole group, not just the airline. The airline must still prove a direct causal link and all reasonable measures, and when it refuses it must name the circumstance it relies on and explain how those conditions are met new Art 6c(2), Art 7(9). Where a disruption was extraordinary and unavoidable, it may cap hotel nights at three new Art 9(6). The full reform explained →

UK261 is not affected by the reform. Krüsemann (2018) is part of the case law UK courts apply. Airhelp v SAS (2021) came after Brexit, so it does not bind them, though they may have regard to it.

What to do now

  1. Photograph the evidence — the departure board, the app before it updates, the arrival time when the door opens. The full checklist →
  2. Write to the airline, quoting the article and the flight. Use the template →
  3. Give them 28 days, then escalate free to the national enforcement body.
  4. Check your time limit — it varies by country: six years in England, one year in Poland and Belgium, and unsettled in Italy. See yours →

Questions

Your flight was hit by a strike: am I owed compensation?

It depends who struck. A strike by the airline's own staff, official or wildcat, is normally not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation is usually payable. A strike by air traffic controllers or airport staff usually is, so compensation usually is not, though care and a refund or rerouting are still owed.

The pilots' strike was legal and announced in advance. Does that let the airline off?

No. In Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20, 2021) the Court of Justice held that a strike called by a trade union of the airline's own staff, in line with national law and its notice period, to press the workers' demands, is not an extraordinary circumstance. The exception is a strike over demands that only public authorities can satisfy.

Is an air traffic control strike always an extraordinary circumstance?

It can be, because it is outside the airline's control. The airline must still show that the strike caused the disruption to your flight and that it took all reasonable measures, such as rerouting you on another carrier if one could get you there sooner.

Does the 2027 reform change the rules on strikes?

From 23 October 2027 the new Annex lists strikes at airports, air navigation service providers and ground handlers, and strikes at the airline only where they come from demands that only public authorities can satisfy. That largely writes the current case law into the text. Until then, flights are judged under the current Regulation.

How do I claim it?

Write to the airline first, quoting the article and flight, and allow 28 days. It is free and you keep the whole amount. Escalate to the national enforcement body if refused.