Ryanair strike: could it affect your travel plans?

Thousands of UK holidaymakers face travel chaos as UK-based Ryanair pilots prepare to walk out at the end of this month over a long-running pay dispute.

The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) has announced two strikes, scheduled to take place on 22-23 August and 2-4 September, reports the BBC.

Balpa said the walkouts are a result of “decades of Ryanair refusing to deal with unions”.

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Brian Strutton, the organisation’s general secretary, said: “It is imperative that we resolve this dispute urgently to avoid strike action. No pilot wants to spoil the public’s travel plans but at the moment it seems we have no choice.”

However, Ryanair has accused the union of causing “unnecessary disruption” to customers and having no mandate to strike, says Sky News.

Any disruption caused by walkouts at Ryanair could be compounded by parallel action by BA pilots, who are also engaged in a pay dispute and have yet to rule out their own stoppages, reports The Guardian.

Will you be affected?

The majority of flights from the UK will not be affected, because they use crews based in other countries.

The Independent estimates that around 350,000 travellers are booked to fly on British-crewed flights on the strike dates, with up to 50,000 seats still available for those departures.

Because of the Ryanair business model, it is unlikely that flights on the days on either side of the strikes will be affected, the newspaper adds.

Can customers cancel their bookings?

Both the union and airline say they don’t want the strikes to go ahead, and that even if they do, not all Ryanair flights will be cancelled.

As such, customers who cancel their bookings on flights that could be affected will not be eligible for refunds or places on alternative flights.

Cancellations by the airline are usually confirmed two or three days ahead of scheduled flights.

What are your rights if your flight is disrupted or cancelled?

If a passenger’s flight is cancelled and they still want to fly to their destination, Ryanair is obliged by EU law to find them a place on a different flight as soon as possible – “including on another airline if necessary”, says The Independent. Ryanair must also cover extra expenses such as transport to airports, meals and hotels for customers waiting for a replacement flight.

If other flights are fully booked, passengers may find themselves waiting for days.

In this situation, passengers may be entitled to compensation, according to The Observer. Naomi Leach of Which? told the newspaper: “If delays or cancellations are a result of the airline’s own staff striking, passengers may be entitled to fixed compensation under EU law.”

However, Ryanair wouldn’t have pay up if they can prove that “a delay or cancellation could not have been avoided, even if all reasonable measures had been taken”, according to European Commission’s europa.eu website.