New strike at Air Europa. The Sepla pilots union (Spanish Union of Airline Pilots) has called a strike between Monday, July 19, and Sunday, July 2, a weekend in which a good number of Spaniards plan to travel by plane due to the start of your summer vacation. The workers denounce that the airline violates the preliminary agreement to update the salaries of its workers. But those affected have the right to raise claims.
The Ministry of Transport has set minimum services of 90% for flights to the Canary and Balearic Islands and up to 65% for mainland routes on strike days.
Air Europa has canceled fifteen flights from its schedule for this Monday. The flights canceled today affect the national routes that link Madrid with Bilbao, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, as well as a flight from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca and vice versa. Canceled international flights affect the Madrid-Paris-Orly route; Asuncion-Madrid; or Madrid-Córdoba (Argentina).
Affected passengers are entitled to compensation of at least 250 euros and a refund of the amount of the ticket and the expenses they have had to make if their flight has been cancelled. Specifically, European regulation 261/2004 establishes in its article 7 that “passengers will receive compensation amounting to 250 euros for flights of up to 1,500 kilometers, 400 euros for intra-community flights of more than 1,500 kilometers and for all others between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometres, and 600 euros for the rest of the flights”.
Those affected by the cancellation of their flights will always have the right to a full refund of the ticket in seven days, or to an alternative transport to the final destination, according to the provisions of article 8 of regulation 261/2004, recalls the Facua consumer association.
In addition, users may also claim any other type of damage, regardless of their nature, that they may have suffered as a result of the cancellation: hotels, organized trips, connecting flights, etc., and even claim moral damages for having lost their holidays or part of them, among the possible cases contemplated in the aforementioned regulation.
In addition, if the cancellation occurs close to the departure time of the flight, the community regulations provide that the airline must offer the affected passengers “sufficient food and soft drinks”, accommodation in a hotel if necessary and transfer from the airport to said hotel.
In addition, a ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in April 2018 determined that a worker strike is not considered “extraordinary circumstances”, so airlines cannot refuse to pay compensation to travelers affected by a strike. worker strike.
So far the theory. However, within the regulations there are exceptions that would exempt the airline from paying compensation to affected users. Among them is communicating “at least two weeks in advance with respect to the scheduled departure time” or informing “of the cancellation between two weeks and seven days in advance and offering them alternative transportation that allows them to leave no more than two hours before the scheduled departure time and arrive at your final destination less than four hours after the scheduled arrival time.
The airline would also not have to pay compensation if it informs passengers “less than seven days in advance of the scheduled departure time and they are offered to take another flight that allows them to leave no more than one hour before and arrive to their final destination less than two hours after the scheduled arrival time.
Community regulations also contemplate that Air Europa could reduce its compensation to affected travelers by 50% if it offers them alternative transportation with a difference in arrival time with respect to the initial flight and “that is not more than two hours, for all flights of 1,500 kilometers or less. For intra-community flights of more than 1,500 kilometers, this time difference does not have to be more than three hours. And, finally, for other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 kilometers”, whose delay at the destination does not exceed four hours, the airlines may also reduce the compensation in half.
The CJEU, in addition, ruled in another judgment of May 2017 that the right to receive these compensations is extended to those cases in which the flight is not canceled, but suffers a delay of more than three hours from its arrival at the final destination. .
Consumer associations recommend keeping all travel documentation, from the ticket to hotel reservations and proof of expenses in order to file a claim.
