South African Airways (SAA) could face a class action lawsuit for flights cancelled during a 2005 strike after a passenger succeeded in a suit for compensation.
Michiel Spaapen said on Friday he had launched a campaign to mobilise other passengers who were also affected by flight cancellations.
He said he could not leave Amsterdam for Cape Town during the strike and was later transported on a charter flight.
He was awarded R15 000 by an Amsterdam civil court in line with a European Union regulation that orders a â,¬600 compensation for passengers on a flight originating from any EU member state that is delayed for more than four hours and is longer than 3 500km.
Spaapen said that according to the ruling, even though SAA said the strike made the cancellation beyond its control, the judge ruled that SAA was liable.
The airline had failed to avoid the strike and had made no attempts to re-book the passenger on an alternative flight when information about the strike was available two weeks earlier.
Spaapen says he is mobilising all stranded passengers who were delayed for more than four hours to start a class action in Europe on their behalf.
He has established a website (www.saastrike.co.za) as a point of contact and, according to the website, the class action will be on a ”no win, no pay” basis, with legal fees deducted from the final compensation.
SAA’s head of corporate affairs, Robyn Chalmers, confirmed the airline had paid Spaapen and considered the matter closed with no further obligations to him.
Several other court cases were lodged in Germany at the time, but the courts ruled in SAA’s favour for each case.
”SAA recognises that it is Mr Spaapen’s democratic right to pursue the matter should be wish to do so,” said Chalmers in a statement.
The strike, in July 2005, brought 75 of the airline’s operations to a halt over a pay increase dispute. — Sapa