What will happen to flights and the alternatives offered by airlines

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) convened a general strike for this Thursday, May 9, 2024, against the government of Javier Milei. The union leadership assures that this new protest will have a strong support.

Part of the expected forcefulness lies in the confirmation that the public transport will fold to size.

In the travel industry, a strike of this type is synonymous with lots of passengers rescheduling flights.

The first step for those who have flights that day is get in touch with the airline if you have purchased the ticket directly, or with the travel agency with which the tickets were issued, whether domestic or international.

In the travel agency are already working to resolve the situation of their passengers, since they have the “role of intermediary between the client and the service provider,” says Paula Cristi, Country Manager of the Despegar agency for Argentina and Uruguay.

The recommendations to its passengers are: in case of reservations with Flybondi or Jetsmart flights, contact the airline directly to check the status of your flight. If you fly with others, enter “My Trips” to manage your reservation.

“If there are more products in your reservation, contact us through our contact channels,” adds Cristi.

When asked about the status of flights on May 9, several airlines were still preparing official statements.

He LATAM group reported that “there could be delays and/or cancellations on flights to and from Argentina for May 9 as a result of the announced general strike.”

For this reason, since Monday, May 6, this airline is offering alternatives so that passengers can change your travel date free of charge: for a new date up to 3 days before or 7 days after the original date

“We suggest passengers confirm the status of their flight periodically through our website www.latamairlines.com/ar/es/flight-status“, says the LATAM statement

In American Airlines They were forceful: “The strike will not affect the operation”.

The website of the low cost JetSmart It already shows the following message:

“We inform you that for next May 9 in Argentina, union entities have anticipated measures that could affect our usual flight schedule. For this reason, if you have a flight scheduled for that day from or to Argentina or within this country, we offer you the following option to facilitate your organization: Change your travel date, free of charge“.

Passengers who want to make the change must enter jetsmart.com/ar/es/cambios-y-devoluciones

Both on its website and on social networks, Air Europa announced the cancellation of two flights: the one from Madrid to Ezeiza on May 8 with departure at 11:55 p.m., and the one on May 9 from Madrid to Ezeiza at 12:15 p.m.

The alternative is to change the date (on a flight operated by Air Europa): in the same cabin, free of charge and to fly until June 9, 2024, inclusive. There is also the option to “save the amount of the ticket to use as credit on a future purchase.”

Lufthansa confirmed that he had to cancel the May 8 flight from Germany and, therefore, the May 9 departure from Ezeiza to Frankfurt was also canceled.

The company reported that the changes in reserves generated by the strike in Argentina, does not generate costs for passengers. Those who entered their personal data in the reservation directly receive a notice with the change to their email. If the reservation was made through a travel agency, it is the agent who receives the information about the flights.

The general recommendation is to enter through the web www.lufthansa.com/ar/es/homepage in My reservations.

Argentinian airlineswhich on Monday, May 6, preventively rescheduled 20 flights due to workplace assemblies to “avoid cancellations and with the least possible harm to our passengers,” advises checking the flight status for May 9.

On the airline’s website, in “Status of your flight”, when searching for routes for May 9, three flights appear in Ezeiza-Madrid: one canceled and the other two rescheduled. On the other hand, if you search for flights from Aeroparque to Bariloche, they still appear unchanged.

Whoever has flights for that day must check flight/reservation status.

Ethiopian Airlines reported the cancellation of its flights ET507 from Ezeiza to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and ET506, from Addis Ababa to Ezeiza, on May 9.

Passengers can be relocated to flights on May 8 or 10.

“In order to operate on Thursday the 9th we are going to concentrate all our flights at the Ezeiza airportwhere we have our own service handling (ramp)”, they communicate from the low cost Flybondi.

They also advance that there will be rescheduling and cancellations of some flights “due to the strike of air traffic controllers who will stop all activity during 2 schedule windows and due to the Intercargo service that provides us with the ramp at some airports in the country (as is the case of Aeroparque).”

As explained by the company, passengers are already being notified.

“Those who have their flight canceled or modified more than 4 hours apart of their original schedule, they will be able change the date at no additional cost entering MY RESERVATION from the website“, they explain in Flybondi.

The specific regulations of the airline sector do not say anything about strikes or stoppages. That’s why they usually included as cases of force majeure.

In general, faced with these situations, in Argentina airlines often reschedule flights without generating extra costs for passengers. They also do not offer compensation.

“If the passenger cannot travel on the new date proposed by the airline, they can request a refund for the paid and unused service; However, you will not be able to request compensation,” explains Santiago Aramburu, a lawyer specialized in tourism law.

He adds that there are “errors that break this rule” whenever two issues arise:

• that the strike or stoppage is of employees of the airline involved,

• that having complied with all the steps to exercise the right to strike, the company has not notified the passengers

In these cases “there may be a breach of the duty of information,” says the lawyer.