Flight cancelled or delayed by a strike? What the airline owes you

Strike cancelled your flight? You always get a refund or another flight, plus meals and a hotel. Airline staff strike: up to €600 or £520 on top.

Updated 1 November 2026 · 5 min read

Strikes are coming back to European airports this month: unions in France have called a national strike for 5 November 2026, including air traffic controllers, and Spain's main unions have called a general strike for 11 November. Whatever kind of strike hits your flight, the airline must give you a refund or another flight, and look after you while you wait. Whether you also get compensation of up to €600 under EU rules or £520 under UK rules per passenger depends on one question: whose staff went on strike.

What you get on every strike

Under the EU and UK rules (EU261 and UK261), these rights apply whatever caused the cancellation, strikes included:

A refund or another flight, your choice. A voucher counts only if you agree to it.
Care while you wait: meals in proportion to the wait, a way to make calls, and a hotel and transfers if you are stuck overnight. If the airline does not provide them, keep receipts and claim reasonable costs back.
Long delays: once a delay reaches 5 hours, you can give up the trip and get a refund.

A meal voucher at the airport is care, not compensation. It does not reduce what you may be owed on top.

Whose strike decides the compensation

The airline is let off paying compensation only for extraordinary circumstances it could not have avoided with all reasonable measures. With strikes, it comes down to who walked out.

Who went on strike	Usually	Why
Air traffic controllers	No compensation	Outside the airline's control. Refund or another flight, and care, still apply
Airport staff, such as security or ground handling	It depends	Ask the airline to show how the strike caused your cancellation or delay
The airline's own pilots, cabin crew or other staff	Compensation due	The Court of Justice of the EU ruled in 2021 that a strike by an airline's own staff is not an extraordinary circumstance

Compensation for a cancellation applies when you were told less than 14 days before departure, unless the replacement flight you were offered ran close to your original times. Most strike cancellations come a day or two before, so the notice test is usually met. The amounts are the same as for a long delay.

Distance	EU261	UK261
Up to 1,500 km	€250	£220
1,500 to 3,500 km, or any flight over 1,500 km inside the EU	€400	£350
Over 3,500 km	€600	£520

If the airline puts you on another flight that arrives close to your original time, it may cut the amount by half. Check the times before you accept the cut.

Which flights are covered

EU rules cover every flight leaving an airport in the EU, on any airline, and flights into the EU on an EU airline. UK rules cover every flight leaving the UK, and flights into the UK on a UK or EU airline. A French air traffic control strike can delay a flight that only crosses French airspace, so check even if you were not flying to or from France.

In the US there is no cash compensation for delays. If a flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you choose not to travel, the airline must give you a cash refund.

How to claim, step by step

Get the reason in writing. At the airport, in the app or by email. The exact cause decides whether compensation is due, so ask whose strike it was.
Choose refund or another flight. Say no to a voucher unless you want one.
Keep every receipt. Meals, hotel, taxis and phone calls while you wait.
Write down the times. Booked arrival and the time a door opened at your final destination.
Claim directly from the airline. Use its claims form or customer relations email. You do not need a claims company.
Give a date. 14 days for a reply, then one follow-up with 7 more.
If they say "extraordinary circumstances", ask them to name the specific event, when it hit your flight and the measures they took.

The message to send

Subject: Compensation claim, flight XX4821 on 12 November 2026, booking KJ7Q2P

Flight XX4821 from London Gatwick to Malaga on 12 November 2026 was cancelled on 10 November. The airline's message said the cause was a strike by its cabin crew. I was rebooked on a flight that arrived on 13 November at 14:10, more than 20 hours after the original arrival.

A strike by an airline's own staff is not an extraordinary circumstance. Under UK261 I claim £350 for each of the two passengers on this booking, £700 in total, plus £186 for the hotel and meals on the receipts attached. Please pay it to the card used for the booking by 27 November 2026.

Swap in your own details. Under EU rules, name EU261 and the euro amount.

If they refuse or go quiet

"Extraordinary circumstances": ask for the specific event and evidence. If it was the airline's own staff, quote the 2021 ruling.
No answer after 14 days: one short follow-up giving 7 more days.
UK: after a rejection or eight weeks with no answer, go to the airline's dispute body (ADR) or, if it has none, the Civil Aviation Authority.
EU: complain to the national enforcement body in the country where it happened. The European Consumer Centre in your country helps with cross-border cases.
US: complain to the Department of Transportation's aviation consumer protection office.

The short version

On any strike you get a refund or another flight, and meals and a hotel while you wait. If the airline's own staff went on strike, you are usually owed compensation too, up to €600 or £520 per passenger. Get the reason in writing, keep your receipts and claim directly from the airline with a date.

Flight cancelled or delayed by a strike? What the airline owes you — Save this guide

Questions

The airline cancelled my flight two days before the strike. Do I get compensation?

Compensation for a cancellation applies when you were told less than 14 days before departure, so usually yes, unless the strike counts as an extraordinary circumstance. An air traffic control strike usually does; a strike by the airline's own staff usually does not.

They offered me a voucher. Do I have to take it?

No. A voucher counts only if you agree to it. Ask for a refund in money or another flight instead.

My flight was delayed, not cancelled. Does any of this apply?

Yes. If you arrived 3 hours or more late, the same compensation rules apply, and the same question decides it: whose strike it was. Meals, and a hotel if you are stuck overnight, are owed once the delay is long enough.

I am flying from the US. What do US rules say?

There is no cash compensation for delays under US law. If your flight is cancelled or significantly changed and you choose not to travel, the airline must give you a cash refund.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change and depend on where you live: check the official source before you rely on a date or an amount.