Leeds Bradford Airport Could Shut for a Weekend Over a Pay Strike, Here’s What You Are and Aren’t Owed

If your flight from Leeds Bradford is cancelled by the 16–18 October strike, the airline must still offer you a refund or a replacement flight and look after you with meals and a hotel if needed. Cash compensation under UK261 is usually not payable, because a strike by airport or air traffic control staff counts as an extraordinary circumstance. The airport says it expects near-normal operations, so the first job is to check whether your own flight is actually affected.

Will your flight actually be cancelled?

Nobody can say yet. Unite says the airport could effectively shut, because flights cannot run without air traffic control or passport control. The airport calls its pay offer fair and above inflation, says it is disappointed, and expects near-normal operations. It has not said how it would staff air traffic control or security during the strike.

Until an airline cancels, your ticket is valid and the flight is on. Check your airline app on Thursday 15 October, and again on the morning you travel. Airlines usually email cancellations 24 to 72 hours ahead, and if one cancels your flight you will have time to choose a refund or a replacement.

Do you get compensation if the strike cancels your flight?

Usually not in cash. Which? lists strikes by non-airline staff, such as airport-employed baggage handlers, and restricted air traffic control operations as extraordinary circumstances, so the airline can avoid paying financial compensation. The same page says a strike by the airline’s own staff is not usually extraordinary, which is why the airline’s own strikes often do pay out.

For this dispute the strikers are airport employees, so the rule that applies is the no-compensation one. Airlines can still be challenged if they cancel a flight but other carriers are operating normally on the same day, so keep your paperwork.

Those figures are Which?’s summary of UK261. They are what you would be owed if the cause were the airline’s fault, not what to expect from this strike.

What you are still owed, even when it is a strike

Your rights to a refund or rerouting and to care do not depend on who is to blame. If your flight is cancelled, you can choose a full refund of the unused ticket or an alternative flight. If you wait two hours or more, you are entitled to meals and refreshments and a way to communicate, plus a hotel and transfers if you are stuck overnight. At five hours or more you can ask for a refund, and accepting it ends the airline’s duty of care.

If the airline does not provide care, buy reasonable food and accommodation yourself and keep every receipt. Our guides in Nepal tell trekkers the same thing about missed connections: the receipt is what makes a claim.

What to do before and on the day

Check your booking now, decide whether you can move your flight to Thursday or Monday, and read your travel insurance wording. A strike that is already public when you buy cover is commonly excluded as a known event, so check your policy before you rely on it. If you hold a Nepal or long-haul connection out of another airport, the fix is a buffer night, not a hope.

• Screenshot your booking and any cancellation email.
• Ask for the refund or rebooking in writing, not on the phone alone.
• If you rebook yourself on another airline, ask first. Without agreement you may not get the cost back.

Read our guides to strike compensation rights, what counts as extraordinary circumstances, UK261 versus EU261 and rebooking on another airline. Planning a bigger trip after half term? See our 12-day Everest Base Camp trek.

Cover photo: Mtaylor848 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Section photos: Howard Senton via Pexels (Pexels licence); Ollie Craig via Pexels (Pexels licence); Pixabay via Pexels (Pexels licence).