Works meetings at Austrian Airlines - your rights

apf informs: Works meeting at Austrian Airlines - These are your rights

The flying personnel of Austrian Airlines have announced a works meeting for Friday, March 1, 2024. This affects more than 100 flights to and from Austria. Austrian Airlines has stated that it has already rebooked all passengers accordingly, but passengers are still entitled to their rights in these cases. Agency for Passenger Rights provides information on what passengers need to pay particular attention to and what rights they can assert as passengers.

Vienna. Strikes and industrial action at airlines are not uncommon. Austrian Airlines employees have currently announced a works meeting at Vienna Airport for Friday.

This is a major burden for affected travelers, as they often have to arrange alternative transport or compensation at short notice. However, the EU Air Passenger Rights Regulation provides a very clear framework for this scenario.

If a planned flight for which a ticket/ticket has already been purchased is canceled at short notice due to a strike or industrial action, the passenger has the right to:

• reimbursement of the ticket price including taxes and fees
  
  
• the return flight to the place of departure at the earliest possible time
  
  
• alternative transportation to the destination under comparable conditions at no additional cost to the passenger (at the earliest possible date or, at the passenger's request, at a later date)
  
  
• Compensation payments, which depend on the route booked and can amount to up to EUR 600 per person. However, this only applies to strike action by the carrier itself.
  
  If the passenger was informed in good time, no compensation payments are due:
  Information was provided 14 days or more before the planned departure;
  Information between 14 and 7 days before the departure date (alternative flight: max. 2 hours earlier - arrival max. 4 hours later);
  Information less than 7 days (alternative flight: max. one hour earlier; arrival - arrival max. 2 hours later).
  
  
• Care services from a two-hour departure delay (meals and drinks or hotel and transfer costs for delays of more than one day).

"It is important to contact the airline first before booking alternative transportation on your own. The airline must proactively offer alternative transportation," advises Maria-Theresia Röhsler, Managing Director of Agency for Passenger Rights.

The guidelines issued by the European Commission further discuss that an air carrier must reimburse the cost of re-routing if it does not comply with the obligation to offer re-routing under comparable travel conditions. If the air carrier does not offer a choice between reimbursement or re-routing, but unilaterally decides to reimburse the original ticket cost, passengers are entitled to reimbursement of the additional cost of the new ticket under comparable travel conditions.

If you are affected by the works meeting of Austrian Airlines due to a short-notice cancellation, or if you reach your destination late, you will find a sample letter on our homepage with which you can claim your passenger rights from the airline.

If you do not receive a satisfactory response from the airline within a period of six weeks, apf will help you to assert your rights free of charge and commission-free.

You can find further information on your passenger rights at www.passagier.at