Lufthansa strike compensation: EU court confirms passengers owed up to €600!

As air passengers, we are protected by a piece of EU law called EC 261. It holds airlines financially accountable for flight disruptions that they are responsible for. That includes flight disruptions due to airline staff strikes. So if your flight was canceled due to a strike, you may be eligible for compensation under the EC 261 regulations.

The Fight for Passenger Rights

Airlines have previously disputed whether strikes are eligible for compensation. But in March 2021, AirHelp won a major victory for air passenger rights when the European Court of Justice confirmed that passengers can claim compensation for flights canceled or delayed by airline staff strikes.

Despite widespread travel disruption in 2019 due to staff going on strike, Lufthansa still refuses to pay passengers compensation. We’re prepared to take the strongest legal action — again — to ensure Lufthansa’s passengers get the compensation they are rightfully owed.

If your flight was delayed or canceled in the 2019 Lufthansa airline strikes, check if you’re owed compensation, and let AirHelp help you claim it.

You can find out more about EC 261 and your air passenger rights here

• When am I eligible?
• When am I not eligible?
• Check your eligibility with AirHelp
• What about past strikes?

When am I Eligible for Flight Strike Compensation from Lufthansa?

You are eligible for strike compensation if:

• You had a flight disrupted by a Lufthansa staff strike.
• Your flight was either delayed by 3 hours or more, or was canceled less than 14 days before it was due to depart.
• You had a confirmed flight reservation.
• The disruption occurred within the last 3 years.
• If you took a replacement flight, your new arrival time was significantly different to your original flight.

Airline staff strikes are strikes involving the employees of Lufthansa. That includes pilots, cabin crew, airline engineers, and other employees working directly for Lufthansa. If you book a flight which is disrupted because of a staff strike, Lufthansa may owe you compensation to make up for the trouble caused.

We believe that air passenger rights should always come first – if an airline strike with Lufthansa causes or caused your flight to be delayed, canceled, or even result in a denied boarding, you can make a claim for compensation.

When am I Not Eligible for Strike Compensation from Lufthansa?

You are not eligible for strike compensation if the strike is one that Lufthansa has no control over. For example:

• Strikes by airport security staff
• Strikes by baggage handlers
• Strikes by air traffic management staff
• Strikes caused by political unrest

While Lufthansa staff strikes are within the control of Lufthansa, all other strikes are considered to be extraordinary circumstances. Extraordinary circumstances are any events or situations that are completely beyond the airline’s control and cannot be avoided, even if reasonable measures have been taken to protect against them. In such cases, Lufthansa is not at fault.

Check Your Eligibility for Airline Strike Compensation from Lufthansa with AirHelp!

Not sure whether your flight qualifies for flight strike compensation? There are a lot of laws and exclusions, so for a quick and easy answer, all you have to do is to fill out our eligibility checker with your details. We’ll tell you if your flight qualifies and how much you’re entitled to. You can also use us to handle the claim for you.

What About Past Lufthansa Strikes?

Thousands of passengers are legally owed Lufthansa strike compensation from as far back as 3 years ago.

Lufthansa cabin crew took strike action in 2019 in a dispute over working conditions and career opportunities. In 2019 altogether over 1,650 Lufthansa flights were canceled due to strike action.

Lufthansa also canceled 800 flights in April 2018, but this was due to airport staff taking strike action, which means passengers affected by this strike are not eligible for compensation.

If you think your flight was one of the Lufthansa strike canceled flights, use our Compensation Check now to see if you’re owed money. You may still have time to start your claim!

Previous Lufthansa strike updates:

Here’s a timeline of the most recent Lufthansa strikes, so you can see when industrial action started, and when the Lufthansa strike is over:

24-25 March 2019: Lufthansa cabin crew March 2019 strike
Approx 90 flights canceled, 9,900 passengers affected.

20-21 October 2019: Lufthansa cabin crew October 2019 strike
Approx 60 flights canceled, 4,300 passengers affected.

6-8 November 2019: Lufthansa cabin crew November 2019 strike
Approx 1,500 flights canceled, 200,000 passengers affected.

Approximate number of flights and passengers, based on data collected by AirHelp.

The amount of compensation that you are entitled to, depends on your individual circumstances, but you may be owed as much as €600 per person. Click on the type of disruption you had to find out more.

Lufthansa Strike Flight Cancellation Compensation

Sometimes, Lufthansa staff strikes can lead to the cancellation of your flight altogether. If you’ve had a flight canceled due to a strike, you could be owed compensation! You qualify for compensation if the airline notified you less than 14 days before your flight was due to depart, and they weren’t able to offer you an alternative flight which arrived at a similar time.

You can learn more about flight cancellations and your rights here.

Lufthansa Strike Flight Delay Compensation

Lufthansa strikes can sometimes cause lengthy delays and affect your arrival at your final destination. You are eligible for compensation if your flight is delayed by 3 hours or more.

How much could you be owed when your flight with Lufthansa is delayed?

You can learn more about flight delay compensation here.

Denied Boarding Compensation

During an airline strike, there may be instances where you are denied boarding due to an aircraft being overbooked. If you are denied boarding against your will, you may be entitled to compensation. You can learn more about denied boarding compensation here.

• The Right to Care
• Rebooking and Refunds

You Have the Right to Care

When you experience flight disruption due to an airline strike, you have the “right to care“. Depending on the length of the delay, Lufthansa must provide you with several essentials, including:

• Meals and refreshments.
• Access to communications, including two telephone calls, fax messages, or emails.
• Overnight accommodation, including transportation to and from the airport to your hotel, if necessary.

Rebooking and Refunds

If your flight has been canceled or delayed for more than five hours, you have the right to withdraw from your flight and receive a complete refund.

If your flight was canceled, you also have the choice of taking an alternative flight, organised by Lufthansa, to get you to your destination. You can learn more about rebooking and refunds here.

AirHelp…

• Is the world's most successful flight compensation company.
• Has lawyers in 30+ countries.
• Uses state-of-the-art technology to pursue each claim.
• Takes the stress out of the claim process.
• Operates on a no win, no fee basis.

Flight disruption due to airline strikes does happen, and it is your right to receive compensation if you are affected. AirHelp makes the process of claiming easy and stress-free. We handle the heavy lifting for you!

AirHelp is one of the most successful flight compensation companies in the world, with lawyers in over 30 countries, and support in 16 languages. We use innovative technology to assess and pursue each case, which allows us to start working on your claim quickly and efficiently.

Plus, we operate on a no win, no fee basis, eliminating the risk for you completely. So if you need help to get your flight compensation due to a Lufthansa strike, fill out our form today.

We’re always here to help.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG, commonly known as Lufthansa, is the largest German airline and, when combined with its subsidiaries, also the largest airline in Europe both in terms of fleet size and passengers carried during 2017.

Lufthansa Headquarter

Besides its own services, and owning subsidiary passenger airlines Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Brussels Airlines, and Eurowings including Germanwings (referred to in English by Lufthansa as its Passenger Airline Group), Deutsche Lufthansa AG owns several aviation-related companies, such as Lufthansa Technik, as part of the Lufthansa Group. In total, the group has over 600 aircraft, making it one of the largest airline fleets in the world.

Lufthansa’s registered office and corporate headquarters are in Cologne. The main operations base, called Lufthansa Aviation Center, is at Lufthansa’s primary hub at Frankfurt Airport, and its secondary hub is at Munich Airport.

The airline is part of the Star Alliance with other major airlines such as SAS and United.

Airline IATA Code: LH
Address: Airportring 336, FRANKFURT, Germany
Website: http://www.lufthansa.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lufthansa