C-195/17 and joined cases · 2018 · UK 261 AND EC 261
Helga Krüsemann and Others v TUIfly GmbH
A wildcat strike is not an extraordinary circumstance. The Court held in 2018 that staff absences following a surprise restructuring announcement, at rates far above normal, fall outside Art. 5(3) because the stoppage was triggered by the carrier's own management decision and so belongs to the normal risks of running an airline.
REVIEWED AGAINST RULE SET V6 AND THE CITED PRIMARY SOURCES · UPDATED 7 AUGUST 2026
- COURT
- Court of Justice of the European Union (Third Chamber)
- CASE NUMBER
- C-195/17 and joined cases
- JUDGMENT
- 17 April 2018
- CITATION
- ECLI:EU:C:2018:258
What the case was about
TUIfly announced a restructuring without warning. Sickness notifications among cockpit and cabin crew jumped from a normal level of around 10 percent to as much as 89 percent over several days.
Dozens of cancellations and long delays followed, and the airline refused compensation on the ground that the stoppage was unofficial and therefore outside its control.
What it changed
- It established that the airline cannot rely on a disruption its own decisions provoked.
- The unofficial nature of a stoppage does not put it outside the carrier's control. What matters is where the cause sits.
- Ending the walkout through an agreement with staff representatives was itself evidence the situation was manageable from inside the business.
SOURCES
- Joined Cases C-195/17 and others, Krüsemann v TUIfly, judgment of 17 April 2018 (ECLI:EU:C:2018:258) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026
- Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, Art. 5(3) · EUR-Lex · checked 7 August 2026