Carlo Rienzi, President of the Coordination of the Associations for the Defense of the Rights of Italian Users and Consumers (Codacons), added that these companies would have to pay around two billion euros just for the reimbursements to passengers.
Rienzi said in statements to local media this Sunday that “even in the event of a strike, airlines are obliged to provide the assistance and compensation provided for by European regulations to passengers whose flights are cancelled”.
Codacons even announced the activation of a platform designed to help citizens manage these refunds.
Holidaymakers who are unable to reach their destination due to the strike have the right to request a full refund of the amount paid for unused services from travel agencies, tour operators and accommodation providers, based on the principle of “force majeure”.
They could also take action against the airlines, demanding compensation for non-pecuniary damage due to “destroyed vacations” of around five thousand euros per traveler, the official said.
The Filt-Cgil, Uiltrasporti, UGL-TA, Fit-Cisl and UNICA unions in Italy have called a strike over labor demands that was expected to last all day today, eventually lasting four hours and causing the cancellation of around 600 flights.
Reports published in the local newspapers Qui Finanza, L´Economía and Sky TG24 pointed out that the strike in the air sector, which is taking place this Sunday, involves the ground crew of the so-called National Air Assistance Unit (ENAV). .
Employees from airlines Ryanair, Vueling, Volotea, Ita, Wizz Air, EasyJet and Malta Air are also taking part, which will affect around a hundred thousand passengers, the sources point out.
ENAV said work stoppages took place at airports and control centers in Rome, Brindisi, Milan, Padua, Bologna, Lamezia Terme, Naples, Perugia, Pescara, Ciampino and Turin, among others.
“This new protest action is in response to the ongoing unacceptable conditions in which workers are forced to work,” unions Uiltrasporti and Filt-Cgil said in statements.
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