Ryanair Strike (August 15 - 17, 2025): How to claim compensation

Ryanair strike on a national Spanish holiday

Madrid, August 15, 2025  -  Ryanair operations in Spain are facing significant disruptions due to a nationwide ground‑staff strike called by the trade unions UGT and CGT, beginning today (August 15th, 2025) and lasting through August 17th, 2025. Workers from Azul Handling - the agency which provides Ryanair, as well as other airlines, with ground staff - are striking over job stability, abusive sanctions, and working hours, affecting bases at major airports this weekend. 

Which airports are impacted by the Ryanair strike?

All airports with Azul Handling workers will be affected by the strike. In order of most to least visitors per day, these are: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma, Málaga, Alicante, Gran Canaria, Tenerife Sur, Valencia, Sevilla, Ibiza, Lanzarote, Tenerife Norte, Fuerteventura, Menorca, Santiago, Oviedo, Girona, Santander, Vigo, Reus, Murcia, Almería, Zaragoza, Vitoria.

What travellers need to know

• Strike schedule: The walkouts will occur on the 15th, 16th, and 17th of August in three daily time slots: 05:00 - 09:00, 12:00 - 15:00, and 21:00 - 23:59 (LOS40, Diario AS).
  • It is important to note that although there are times throughout the day when the strike is off (9:00-12:00 and 15:00-21:00), the time schedules for the entire day will be affected. If you have a flight to or from any of the impacted airports during the strike days, plan accordingly for potential disruptions, even if your flight is scheduled outside the planned strike hours.
    
• Possible effects: Expect flight delays, cancellations, or disruptions to check‑in, long airport queues, delays for baggage, and boarding.
  
• Ryanair’s stance: The airline claims it anticipates no major disruptions, but acknowledges ground services are critical to operations (tourexpi.com).

Legal framework: UK and European Regulation EU261/2004 grants UK and European passenger rights to compensation, re‑routing, refunds, and assistance. Some strikes may be considered “extraordinary circumstances”, if they are not in the airline’s control but in this case, the staff striking is part of Ryanair’s crew and therefore passengers of the disrupted flights will likely be entitled to compensation.

How to claim compensation for the Ryanair strike

Ready to claim? Check the eligibility of your flight:

Expert handling: Although some recent ECJ interpretations argue that strikes by subcontracted staff (like Azul Handling) are automatically “extraordinary circumstances” that invalidate compensation according to the EU261 (Ryanair), experts at Flight-Delayed.com have 15 years of experience and 98% success rates in court fighting cases like these. Working on a no win, no fee basis, this is a risk-free process for passengers to claim their compensation! 

What you should remember

Ryanair passengers travelling during August 15 - 17 may face disruptions due to the ground‑staff strike. While compensation claims under EU law for ground‑staff strikes are legally nuanced, Flight‑Delayed.com offers a professional and hassle‑free way to pursue rightful compensation - backed by EU 261 regulation.