The European Court continues in the line initiated in 2008 to make a restrictive interpretation of what it considers to be a "force majeure", always in the passenger's interest, so that only those causes that are truly unrelated to the airline are considered to be "unavoidable", and that only those causes that are truly unrelated to the airline are considered to be "unavoidable"; so that only those causes truly beyond the airline's control, of unavoidability and unforeseeability, are considered force majeure, and therefore, are exempt from compensation.

InSpain, and almost unanimously, judges have always ruled in favor of passengers, considering, for example, that pilots' strikes are not force majeure and therefore users who claim must be compensated.

The same is not true in Germany, where judges, interpreting the concept from the prism of their rules, did consider that staff stoppages were force majeure. This discrepancy has motivated the action of the CJEU to fix a single criterion.

As Reclamador.es, in case of cancellation or delay of more than five hours, the airline must reimburse within seven days the full cost of the ticket, in addition to a return flight to the first point of departure as quickly as possible;In addition to the compensation provided for in Regulation 261, ranging from 250 to 600 euros, depending on the distance of the flight.

The fundamental thing is to determine whether the strike in question has the characteristics that legally constitute a circumstance exempting the airline's liability to the passenger. In this sense, 

According to Article 1105 of the Civil Code, to the extent that a strike is legally called, it cannot be unforeseeable, so this exonerating circumstance does not apply. The same applies in the case of strikes by third parties, such as handling companies. The service is contracted by the passenger with the airline and it is the responsibility of the airline to offer it.

However, it must be taken into account that the controllers strikes are considered “extraordinary circumstances”, since in this case the requirements of inevitability and alienability are met, since they make the normal transit of aircraft through the affected spaces impossible. In these cases the airlines are not obliged to pay the compensation, but the rest of the obligations are maintained: to provide assistance to passengers until the departure of the flight (food and drink) and to offer alternative transport to the destination or the reimbursement of the ticket, always at the passenger's choice.