COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EU / Consumers

Advocate General clarifies concept of ‘extraordinary circumstances’ that release an airline from its obligation to compensate passengers

Brussels, 16/03/2021 (Agence Europe)

In his opinion, delivered on Tuesday 16 March (Case C-28/20), the Advocate General Priit Pikamäe said that, in principle, a strike organised by pilots’ unions constitutes an ‘extraordinary circumstance’ that can release an airline from its obligation to compensate passengers for flight delays or cancellations.

SAS is refusing to pay compensation to an air passenger whose flight from Malmö to Stockholm on 29 April 2019 was cancelled because of a strike by SAS pilots in Norway,...