Fun Fact: Air traffic controller strikes also count as force majeur
Actually, once my flight (to Europe) was delayed by like 4h because they had an air traffic controller strike in another country THE NEXT DAY and kind of shuffled their plane fleet across the continent to make it work.
Airline denied me my (i think it was 600 Euros) compensation using the force majeur strike argument.
That was the only time I went to one of those services that went to court for me for like 30% of my claim.
They really did go almost all the way until the airline took the very last exit before a trial.
The French controllers strike so often it's hardly unexpected (yesterday/today I believe!). But I agree it's largely out of the airlines' control. But it's a well known issue of many years and should be a part of doing business
I would want compensation from the controllers' bosses (French government?)
So what happens to the concept of "getting what you paid for"? Does KLM just shrug and say sorry? I could imagine if they said "we can't pay for accommodation but we'll send you on the next flight", but did they even do that?
I wasn't anywhere that needed accomodation so I cant speak to that. They canceled the flight and booked for the next day, which meant that I had to miss half the conference and the reason that I was making the trip in the first place.
Actually, once my flight (to Europe) was delayed by like 4h because they had an air traffic controller strike in another country THE NEXT DAY and kind of shuffled their plane fleet across the continent to make it work. Airline denied me my (i think it was 600 Euros) compensation using the force majeur strike argument. That was the only time I went to one of those services that went to court for me for like 30% of my claim. They really did go almost all the way until the airline took the very last exit before a trial.
Sometimes I like consumer rights.