geosch

A friend of mine booked a round trip TXL to PMI on Easyjet. The flight to PMI was supposed to take place on tomorrow's Saturday, but about 30 hours before departure time Easyjet sent an email announcing the cancellation due to a strike by French air traffic controllers. In that standard email (which BTW is solely in English) the offer a choice between a refund claim and a rebooking, which one is supposed to select via their website (fair enough).
Easyjet is offering flights for Sunday onward only, no connection is offered for Saturday (and one might be wondering whether the Sunday connection will soon be cancelled for the same reason).
Apparently Easyjet is not making any effort to either fly around France or to have the passenger rebooked on a Saturday connection via e.g. Italy or UK.
Easyjet writes "In accordance with EU261 regulations, you will not be entitled to claim for compensation as a result of the industrial action. You will be entitled to claim for reasonable expenses, further information is detailed on our website. Reimbursement of expenses can be claimed by submitting your receipts using our Webform and selecting ‘expenses claims’ in the drop down list."
Is Easyjet actually exempt from compensation liabilities even though neither the departure nor the destination country are subject to any strikes and they were aware of the problems in France well over 24 hours in advance?
Can't they be expected to fly round France?

Now the most important question: does the passenger have to accept Easyjet's choice of rebooking options, or could he try to rebook on his own (on a Saturday connection) with a different airline and charge Easyjet for it?
What would you suggest in this case?

BTW, I guess cost of non-used hotel nights which can no longer be cancelled do not fall under expense claims, do they?

Trav1970

irishguy28

It's not that simple. Every airline cannot file a new, different flight path that takes them totally out of French ATC space. The skies are already busy enough and the surrounding countries can't accept all the traffic that would be "displaced" from France on the days that they go on strike (which is incredibly frequently). The LCCs already have fairly ambitious block times for their flights and even small diversions around "closed" airspace would further impact their schedules.

In such an instance, it is inevitable that flights will be cancelled. Ryanair cancelled over 100. IAG and Ryanair are actually threatening action against French ATC, having blamed them for 5,000 flight cancellations so far this year: https://www.ft.com/content/76ea3076-...d-3823e4384287

Whether and if Easyjet could rebook your friend on a connecting itinerary is another discussion. I don't think Easyjet do connecting itineraries except at LGW?

Trav1970

irishguy28

Not sure how that will help. Some flights *did* operate; 3 of U2's 5 flights on Saturday from TXL to PMI operated.

While strikes of airline staff are, apparently, no longer seen as "extraordinary circumstances", when a flight is cancelled due to ATC strikes then it is completely out of the airline's hands; an airline cannot just take off and fly where and when it likes; when France goes on strike, the capacity in the skies over France is curtailed so not all the scheduled flights can operate.

The OP is free to attempt a claim under EC261/2004, but given the widespread news about *another* ATC strike in France, it would appear that there is little chance of success in such a claim.

65% of Easyjet flights operate through French airspace. The same cannot be said of Lufthansa.

As stated above, the airlines are at the mercy of ATC. While there may indeed be some "strategic" or commercially-motivated cancellations slipped through and blamed on ATC issues, there is no doubt but that ATC strikes and delays are becoming a major problem that is preventing airlines from operating an otherwise operable schedule. See: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-n...ts-atc-strikes

Indeed - it shouldn't be the customer's problem - but in this regard, it shouldn't be the airlines' problem, either.

Easyjet operated 5 of the 7 scheduled flights yesterday from both Berlin airports to Palma. As such, it is unlikely that they would have had enough seats on the 5 operating flights to accommodate everyone from the 2 cancelled flights. Flying pax to another Easyjet destination to transfer there to another Easyjet flight would likely have run into the same issues with delays and cancellations. As such, to be able to depart from the origin on the next day may actually have been the "first available flight'.

Trav1970

Excellent. This is evidence that it was indeed possible to fly over France despite the strike, albeit the available ATC slots might have been limited.
There is airspace belonging to other countries around France. It is well possible to route the flights to take advantage of that. Of course, it might
1) Cost more as the route becomes longer (=a clear issue for a LCC who has shrunk margins so low they can't afford any extra costs);
2) Cause issues with other flights (=a clear issue for a LCC who has extremely short turnaround times).

But, low margins and short turnaround times are business decisions, also known as "taking risk". Sometimes risk pays off, sometimes it doesn't.
Interesting but irrelevant. How an airline builds its route map is a business decision. Besides, it is well known that strikes can happen in France (or any other country for that matter).
EU261 calls for rerouting at the earliest opportunity. It doesn't state "with the same airline." Again, tight margins may make it commercially unviable to route passengers on other airlines, or on the same airline with connections. As I said above, tight margins are a business decision. Low margins are not "extraordinary circumstances."

Simply put, regulations like EU261 are intended to influence airlines decisions on what kind of business decisions they should take before any issues have even occurred, but also after an issue. If not being able to reroute passengers quickly enough causes penalties to be paid out, that is a good motivation for those business decisions to be taken smartly.

BTW - this thread is a good reminder to make a note to self: Don't use LCCs and avoid strike prone countries' airspace.

LondonElite

Just file under EC261 rather than argue here. I believe your chances are slim, but it's worth the try.

irishguy28

It's not just LCCs that cancelled flights. You seem to advocate that, as long as any single aircraft on any airline manages to successfully negotiate a particular route, that an ATC excuse cannot be used by any other aircraft or airline in failing to fully execute their schedule for that day, regardless of the purported cause of the problem. But it's not an "all-or-nothing" event like the volcano ash cloud - it's not that all of French air space was shut, it's that capacity was restricted. Easyjet clearly made a business decision to minimise the impact of an external factor to their operations. Easyjet did not fail to operate these 2 TXL-PMI flights on Saturday on a whim, or as a result of their own failures - but as a direct result of the ongoing strikes in Marseille. French ATC strikes have led to the cancellation of over 3,000 flights so far this year.

To successfully argue that Easyjet additionally owe compensation in this case, you would have to prove that the cancellation of this particular flight was not just unnecessary, but as a direct result of a failing on the part of Easyjet. Even if that was actually the case here - and some wags have suggested that airlines are "hiding" staff shortage cancellations and using the ATC strikes as cover - you would still have to somehow be able to demonstrate that the ATC issue - which is a clear and unarguable factor here - was NOT in any way an issue with this particular cancellation. When ATC capacity is reduced/restricted, it is inevitable that services will have to be curtailed as a result. Of course, this sucks for those passengers who were booked to travel on the services that were cancelled, all the more so when they see that other flights they could have chosen depart as planned (or with a delay). But this type of advance cancellation is common in Europe in such cases - BA and KLM do it whenever bad weather leads to notice of ATC restrictions. And many airlines have been cancelling flights each weekend since April as a result of these weekly strikes in Marseille ATC. However, I am not aware of any case being brought where a flight cancelled in advance for ATC restriction reasons led to the awarding of compensation. If you are aware of such cases, do let us know.

And besides, many customers may prefer the certainty to be told not to show up for a flight that ends up being severely delayed, and maybe possibly eventually cancelled. The OP has not related the passenger's experience in looking for alternate routings that would still get them there to PMI on the same day. It may well be that the Easyjet rebooking tool accomdated as many affected pax as possible on the same-day services that operated, and that the next-day Easyjet flights were the next best option. The regulation does not REQUIRE that bookings on other airlines must be considered; the implementation guidelines also recommend avoiding additional connections.

The fact remains that Air Traffic Management decisions are the only specific case mentioned in recitation 15 of the Regulation as an example of an "Extraordinary Circumstance". As such, I really fail to see that you would successfully argue that Easyjet additionally owe the compensation, even though it sucks for the passengers who happened to be booked on the few flights that they "sacrifice" to keep the system flowing. Note also that the recitation refers only to particular aircraft - it makes no reference to other aircraft, other airlines, or whether any other airline (or even the same airline) managed to successfully operate a flight on the same or similar route on the same day - which seems to be the basis you consider for determining if compensation is due.

geosch

The strike on Jun 30/Jul 1 that EZY hat cited as a reason to cancel the flight was actually called off. News of this was distributed by 04:30 AM on Fri. Jun 29 through Twitter and maybe even earlier through other means. EZY must have been aware of that fact by then. Even though this was more than 30 hours before the cancelled flight was scheduled to take off, Easyjet still did not attempt to reinstall its Saturday afternoon flights. On Friday evening my friend was unable to book a suitable flight on his own for Sat. Jul 30, so he reluctantly rebooked to the only EZY connection still being offered to him for Sun. morning (apparently getting the last available seat).
Since there was no strike, all Saturday connections between TXL and PMI that had not been cancelled (including some Easyjet flights) went as scheduled.
Now I'm wondering how a strike that did not take place could serve as a reason for denying compensation. I will suggest to my fried to claim compensation via Easyjet's web form. Do you think this is a good approach?

erik123

I had a similar situation a few years back - long delay GLA-BRS due to French ATC strike - and was unsuccesful with my claim.

irishguy28

Airlines have to react to the threat of strikes (and there have been plenty of strikes - Marseille has been on strike pretty much every weekend since April) and re-instating cancelled flights is unlikely ever to happen, as the flights tend to be cancelled at the last possible moment.

How to survive a French ATC strike
LFMM/Marseille weekend ATC strike June 30 to July 2 ? CANCELLED ? International Ops 2018



You can, of course, apply for compensation - it costs you nothing but your time - but you are almost certain to get nothing more than what was already given to your friend.

Often1

No different than cancelling due to anticipated severe weather or civil unrest. Just because a Cat. 4 hurricane does not descend on the destination does not mean that a carrier ought to take the risk and once it has made a decision, reinstating is not practically possible.

geosch

So why did other airlines manage to fly then? EW had two successful connections on the same route during the very time window of the cancelled Easyjet connections.

irishguy28

as explained above, the French ATC strikes are unpredictable. They don't know until the shift starts how many staff will show up; the throughput of planes through a vast sector of airspace - which Easyjet would normally have to pass through in order to reach Palma from Berlin - will be reduced, even though they won't know until the day how many flight plans can actually be cleared. In these circumstances, most airlines consider it prudent to cancel in advance and inform passengers. The alternative is to have planeloads of angry passengers waiting at the airport of departure and potentially being sent away after hours of delay. I know that it sucks for the passengers whose flights are cancelled and who lose a day of holiday, or worse; but the certainty sure beats hanging around an airport for hours.

Also bear in mind that even the mere threat of a strike is enough to cause disruption; calling it off at such short notice will guarantee the distruptive effects, without the staff involved being docked pay.

geosch

The fact remains that Easyjet, just as any other airline, knew about 34 hours before the scheduled flight that there would not be any strike. We are not talking about a time frame with a danger of passengers coming to the airport.
To me it looks like Easyjet made use of the situation (alleged ATC strike) to the best of their company interest, which here meant increasing load factors for their remaining TXL-PMI flights and, probably more importantly, easing their tense overall aircraft/crew situation.