Airport staff employed in security checks caused backlogs on Wednesday morning with a non-negotiated strike known as a wildcat strike. A number of passengers subsequently missed flights.

A wildcat strike or unofficial industrial action is a strike action undertaken by unionized workers without union leadership authorization, support, or approval.

But the cause of their missed flights means passengers are not entitled to compensation from either the airport or airlines, according to Lars Arent, who is head of the European Consumer Centre Denmark (Forbruger Europa).

This is because passengers are required to be at the correct gate when their flight departs. If they are not, they are not entitled to compensation.

“This is a case of an illegal work stoppage which could not be predicted by either the airport or the airlines,” Arent told Ritzau.

“For this reason, we end up in a situation where the principle is that it is the passengers themselves who have to be present at the gate when the aircraft departs,” he said.

“If they are not, then they cannot then ask the airline for a new flight on a later departure,” the consumer rights specialist said.

As a result, passengers may have to foot the bill if they have to buy new tickets because they have missed their flights.

A spokesperson for Copenhagen Airport told Ritzau that passengers had missed their flights due to the wildcat strike.

The airport did not yet know the exact number affected, he said.

Airport security control staff undertook the action in protest at 12 colleagues being let go, Ritzau reports.

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