Ryanair strikes begin on Sunday
Cabin crew and pilots to strike on several days in September
AN ESTIMATED total of 4,438 Ryanair flights will be affected in Spain by the cabin crew strike scheduled to affect September 1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27 and 28, according to the ministry for public works.
This Sunday and Monday (September 1 and 2) are some of the busiest days of the year at Spanish airports, since many people finish their summer holidays and fly back home.
The ministry announced on Wednesday that the company has to guarantee a minimum of 60% of all international and domestic flights on routes that would take more than a fivehour-trip by road, and 100% of all flights to the Canary and Balearic islands.
Besides the cabin crew strike, the pilots union Sepla announced on Thursday that Ryanair pilots have called five days of strike action, on September 19, 20, 22, 27 and 29, meaning that neither the pilots nor the cabin crew will be working on September 20, 22 and 27.
Ryanair and the state-run Spanish airports company AENA could not tell Costa Blanca News exactly how many flights and destinations will be affected at Alicante-Elche and Valencia airports by the strike on Sunday, Monday and Friday, September 6.
A Ryanair press officer told CBNews on Thursday: “They are still working on organising the logistics.”
“The decision on which flights will be cancelled will be made over the course of the day, since the company has a 24hour-deadline,” she said.
“The number of cancelled flights is not expected to be very high, because the percentage of minimum services established by the Ministry is very high.”
The spokeswoman vowed that ‘all affected passengers are to be informed via e-mail or SMS in good time’ and ‘the list of cancelled flights will be available on Ryanair’s website’.
However she refused to specify when the information would be available or when the passengers would be informed.
She pointed out that affected passengers have different options and can have their money refunded, be moved onto a later flight or take a flight to a different destination.
Yesterday afternoon (Thursday), Ryanair issued a press release saying six flights would be cancelled on Sunday and eight on Monday throughout Spain but no details were given regarding which one's they were or if more would be cancelled.
The Spanish agency for air safety (AESA) announced that inspectors are to be posted in the airports affected by the strike to guarantee that affected passengers’ rights are honoured.
The AESA stressed that passengers of cancelled flights have the right to get free food, drinks, accommodation and transport to this accommodation, and that the airline must pay for this and cannot insist that the passengers pay first and reclaim the expenses later.
They can also decide whether they want their money refunded or to put on the next available flight. The AESA noted that if seats are available with another airline, the passenger has the right to one of these for free and cannot be made to wait several days until a seat with Ryanair is found.