BERLIN, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The German passenger rights group Flightright has filed a legal challenge against Ryanair's refusal to award compensation to customers during recent strike action, the newspaper Handelsblatt first reported on Wednesday.
"We are fighting for the passengers to enjoy their due rights, rather than allowing themselves to be discouraged by Ryanair's one-sided legal reasoning," Flightright legal expert Oskar de Felice told Handelsblatt.
During the Europe-wide industrial action on Friday, Ryanair offered to rebook passengers onto alternative connections or refund their ticket prices. However, the Dublin-based company insisted that the pilot strikes constituted an "extraordinary circumstance" under European Union (EU) aviation regulation which did not merit any additional passenger compensation for disruptions caused to their travel plans.
Flightright rejects this argumentation and has now filed a formal complaint at the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court requesting the judges to clarify the matter. The passenger rights group argued that the pilot strike was the "logical consequence of Ryanair's dubious human resources policies" and could hence not be seen as a case in which trade unions were acting disproportionately and beyond the control of the airline.
De Felice hereby echoed arguments made by the pilot trade union "Vereinigung Cockpit" (VC) which has been negotiating on behalf of Ryanair staff to sign the airline's first ever collective wage agreement since January. VC President Martin Locher explained earlier that the decision to strike was a response to the unwillingness of Ryanair to engage in constructive discussions with pilots.
Trade unions have only been recognized by management at Ryanair as of 2017. The company's CEO Micheal O'Leary has repeatedly resisted calls from staff for better pay and working conditions which he warns would endanger the ultra-low-cost business model of Europe's largest budget airline.
Germany was at the epicenter of the resulting industrial action where 250 Ryanair flights were cancelled at the peak of the country's holiday season. As a result, around 42,000 passengers experienced serious disruptions to their travel plans.
Under EU law, passengers are eligible to receive up to 600 euros (679 U.S. dollar) in cases of flight cancellations or delays of more than three hours. In April 2018, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) ruled that a "wildcat" strike at Tuifly could not be considered as an "extraordinary circumstance" and ordered the airline to compensate affected customers accordingly.
Speaking to Handelsblatt on Wednesday, de Felice said that he had "no doubts" that the CJEU verdict applied to the Ryanair pilot strike as well.
