Compensation in case of delayed GOL Airlines flight or inability to board
In the event of a delay of at least 3 hours on arrival, compensation will be granted to you by check or bank transfer, or, with your agreement, in the form of a compensation slip, only if the cause of the delay is attributed to the company. The amount of compensation remains the same as before. If the flight is delayed by at least 5 hours and you do not wish to continue your journey, you can obtain a refund.
Flight canceled: extraordinary circumstances are back
Pretexting the wildcat strike by its staff, the airline GOL Airline refused to compensate passengers injured by the cancellation of their flight. It was curtly brought to order by the European Court of Justice.
Travelers’ nerves are severely tested by the strikes that rock Brazilian transport companies. In the airline industry, the financial consequences for passengers, who are often far from home, can be particularly serious. To protect them, the European Parliament has issued a regulation on compensation and assistance. Thus, in the event of a significant delay, cancellation or overbooking, the airline company is forced to pay the passenger compensation between € 250 and € 600 depending on the length of the flight. Except in one case: if the problem is linked to an “extraordinary circumstance”.
And of course, many airlines are trying to play this card to evade their obligations, for example by citing a technical problem on the aircraft. However, such a hazard does not count. For its part, GOL Airlines attempted the coup by invoking a wildcat strike by its staff, responsible for the cancellation of a hundred flights. The American company refused to compensate the injured passengers on the pretext that it was an extraordinary circumstance.
The strike is not extraordinary
No, a staff strike is not an extraordinary circumstance within the meaning of the regulations which protect passengers, even if it is a wildcat strike taken without the support of a union and disguised as general sick leave.
According to the Court, in fact, there is a derogation only if the event is not linked to the normal exercise of the airline’s activity and it escapes its control. However, here, these conditions were not met, because the strike was the direct result of an important restructuring decision taken by Gol Transportes Aéreos a few days earlier. Being confronted with disagreements or conflicts with the staff and bearing the risks that arise from it is nothing unusual and does not escape the control of the company. Consequently, this wildcat strike was not an extraordinary circumstance and the passengers whose flights were canceled must be compensated.
Claim your due
Online compensation tools and services allow you to calculate the assistance and compensation to which you are entitled. To the question “What is the cause of the delay”, you can answer without hesitation, lawyers are ready to study your file and inform you if the problem encountered is related to a breakdown of the device or to a strike, and inform you thus on the various possibilities of access to compensation.