A strike by the airline’s own staff does not stop a €250, €400 or €600 EU261 payment — £220, £350 or £520 under UK261. A strike by air-traffic control, airport staff or another company usually does. The question that decides your claim is whose strike grounded your flight.
Whose strike was it?
| Who went on strike | Extraordinary circumstance? | Compensation | What you still get |
|---|---|---|---|
| The airline’s own pilots or cabin crew, lawful union action | Generally no | Generally owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
| The airline’s own staff, wildcat sickout | Generally no | Generally owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
| The airline’s own ground staff | Generally no | Generally owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
| A handling agent or airport operator that is a separate company | Generally yes | Generally not owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
| Air-traffic control | Generally yes | Generally not owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
| A general or national strike outside aviation | Generally yes | Generally not owed | Care, refund or re-routing |
Pick the strike the airline blamed in the extraordinary-circumstances checker and it returns the judgment and a reply paragraph. The right-hand column never changes. Even a genuine extraordinary circumstance leaves the airline owing you meals, refreshments and a hotel where the wait is long enough, and the choice between a refund and re-routing. That was the point of McDonagh v Ryanair (C-12/11, 31 January 2013): the ash cloud excused compensation, not care.
Why the airline’s own staff strike still pays
The Court of Justice has treated industrial action inside the airline as part of running an airline, not an outside event:
- Krüsemann v TUIfly (C-195/17 and joined cases, 17 April 2018). Staff called in sick en masse after the employer announced a surprise restructuring. The Court held that spontaneous absences arising from the carrier’s own management decision are a normal business risk, not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation was still due.
- Airhelp v SAS (C-28/20, 23 March 2021), Grand Chamber. A lawful pilots’ strike called by the union of the carrier’s own staff, in line with national law, over pay in collective bargaining. Still not extraordinary. A strike is a foreseeable expression of the right to collective action that any employer has to be ready for.
So “our pilots were on strike” is a reason to claim, not a reason to be refused.
Why external strikes usually do not
When the people who stopped work are not the carrier’s employees — air-traffic controllers, airport security, a separate ground-handling company — the event is normally outside the carrier’s control and can be extraordinary under Article 5(3). Compensation is then generally not owed. The airline still has to prove the second half of the defence: that it could not have avoided the disruption even with all reasonable measures, which usually means showing what re-routing it looked for.
Get the cause in writing before you accept anything. “Cancelled due to strike action” is not an answer. Ask which organisation’s employees were on strike, and on what date. If the reply names the airline’s own crew, restate the claim and cite Krüsemann and Airhelp v SAS.
Bumped from a later flight after a strike
If a strike cancelled an earlier flight and the airline then moved other passengers around and refused you a seat on a flight that did operate, that is denied boarding, and the strike is not a defence. In Finnair v Lassooy (C-22/11, 4 October 2012) the Court held that denied boarding covers more than overbooking, and that an extraordinary circumstance affecting an earlier flight does not excuse compensation for a passenger refused boarding on a later, rescheduled one. Use the denied-boarding letter.
What to do, in order
- Ask the airline, in writing, to name the striking organisation and the date.
- If it was the carrier’s own staff, send the delay or cancellation letter with the case citations.
- If it was genuinely external, drop the Article 7 claim and put your energy into the expenses and refund or re-routing claims instead.
- Refused on a bare “strike” line for an own-staff strike? Escalate to the regulator or ADR scheme.
Does a strike announced weeks ago still count?
Advance notice does not by itself make a strike extraordinary or ordinary — the test is whose staff struck. Notice matters for a different reason: a cancellation notified 14 days or more before departure carries no compensation at all, whatever the cause.
The strike was in another country. Who do I complain to?
The national enforcement body of the country you departed from, or the airline’s home regulator or ADR scheme. Where a UK flight is involved, the CAA’s approved schemes can make a decision that binds the airline. See if they refuse.
Rules in force today
This is the law that applies to a flight you take today. A revision of Regulation 261/2004 was adopted in July 2026 — the Parliament approved the conciliation text on 7 July 2026 and the Council gave final approval on 13 July 2026 — and it is not yet in force: it applies 12 months after it enters into force following publication in the Official Journal, and the final text sets the details. See what the 2026 EU261 reform changes.
The broader defence, and every other cause an airline can raise, is in extraordinary circumstances.