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Nationwide flight strike in Italy - Your claims

Travel by Plane

Countless cancellations and delays

According to the Italian press agency ANSA, the nationwide air traffic strike on Saturday (15.7.2023) led to a total of almost a thousand flight cancellations. Several hundred flights were cancelled, especially at the major airports in Rome (Fiumicino), Milan (Linate, Malpensa), Palermo (Falcone Borsellino), Turin (Caselle), Naples and Venice. Austrian travellers are among the 250,000 affected. The Italian consumer protection organisation Codacons estimates that the cancellations and delays will cost millions. According to the union, almost one hundred per cent of the airport ground staff (e.g. from check-in and check-in) took part in the strike. They were protesting against unacceptable working conditions and the failure to adjust wages to inflation. In addition to the ground staff, the pilots of Malta Air, which operates Ryanair flights in Italy, and the pilots and flight attendants of the low-cost airline Vueling also went on strike.

All affected passengers are entitled to a refund or a rebooking of the ticket free of charge (free replacement transport). With Malta Air and Vueling, passengers who are prevented from travelling are also entitled to compensation if they were not informed of the impending cancellation or delay in good time (i.e. more than 14 days before the scheduled departure). See our advice articles on this here. The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the passengers in the current similar cases and no longer sees strikes as "force majeure" where airlines can escape responsibility for compensation payments.

Pictogram about "Airline Strike"

Airline strike

Announced in good time

The work stoppage was widely announced. This allowed most of those affected to stay at home instead of being disappointed at the airport and hoping for the first usable flight there. The holiday trip thus started late for many, at least not in kilometre-long queues at the check-in counters. For example, the national airline ITA was able to rebook about 40% of its customers on alternative flights. After the Italian rail strike on Thursday, this was the second major disruption in the country with considerable problems in public transport in the middle of the peak travel season and coinciding with the current extreme heat wave.

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