SAS Strike and EU 261/2004 Compensation

Because Cheapoair's Terms and Conditions specifically mention a 60-90 day refund/cancellation window, calling them will probably not help make it go any faster. I would give it another month before you invest any more effort into it. Because you're dealing with a middleman who has to interface with the supplier first, it's pretty much expected the process will take longer than dealing directly with the supplier. I think it's too early to go the class action suit route (if at all) given that the small print in the contract protects your travel agent for at least 90 days and gives you essentially no standing for legal recourse yet. Good luck, hope it turns out well for you soon.
https://www.cheapoair.com/travel/generaltermsandconditions/

Not related to the SAS Pilots strike but I got compensation under EU 261/2004 before but it took five months.
In my case there were was a company called Airhelp that monitors flight delays and chases after delayed passengers that tried to get me to file the claim with them for 30% but I just filed it myself getting 100% 1300 euros direct deposit from the airline.
However my understanding of the law is that it does not cover strikes and weather delays.

We got stranded in Split, Croatia and had to purchase our own return
tickets home.

Was SAS not able to put you on any partner airline to get you home? What happened at the airport, assuming you showed up there and weren't able to board? They are obligated to get you home without the need for you to purchase another ticket independently (that is really a "last resort" and should be avoided at all costs due to the kind of reimbursement issue that's the crux of your post). I am guessing it's because they didn't issue the ticket to you directly that they had you go through the pain of dealing with the middleman first, correct?

Hi Agnes,

Our flights were among the first cancelled on the first day of the strike and as I see it, SAS was in crisis. Our hotelier in Split generously spent hours on hold the night before our flight trying to reach them. At the airport, the agent there who was dealing with the cancelled flight spent 3 hours and got no response from SAS. They never responded. It would have been more than a day, likely several days or the entire weeklong strike duration before they responded and got us another flight. I heard that some passengers were rebooked but they were likely SAS "club" members, frequent flyers who they don't want to lose as customers or who were at bigger airports where there were more flights available. I think they just never got around to helping people in Split because it is a small airport with only a few cancelled flights (I think there were 2 on our day).

They produced a flyer that gave us 3 options to deal with the cancellation, one of which was rebook your own flight and apply for a refund. We wanted to get home so that is the route we took. We arrived home more almost 24 hours after we should have.

Thanks for the explanation, that makes perfect sense. I'm sorry you had to face such frustration at the end of your trip. I hope your delayed flight home wasn't too much of an inconvenience, and that you had a good trip to Croatia overall. I flew in and out of Split myself, it's a nice, small manageable airport.

The crucial factor for compensation in a strike of the airline's own employees is whether you were warned of the cancellation at least two weeks prior to the scheduled time of departure. If so, you aren't entitled, if you weren't you are.

The relevant case is Helga Krüsemann and Others v TUIfly GmbH.

Hi Marco,

We were not warned ahead of time and we flew SAS 10 days prior to the strike on the leg out to Croatia.
I am aware of the TUIFly case and cited it to SAS but they still denied the claim. In the EU and UK, your governments help you obtain compensation but there is no such group in the US that I am aware of. I am hoping someone on this forum knows of a group (other than AirHelp, the one that charges 30% of your compensation award) or a pending class action suit.

In my one experience SAS was professional, found other flights the same day, and quickly paid the EU 261 ($467).

You did not get a refund of your fare, compensation for your new ticket, nor the cash payment, right? That's screwed up. It looks like Cheapo (not really good karma on that name) owes you for the refund of both your original payment and your new flights (maybe, may depend upon if you contacted them or not during the ordeal).

SAS says on its website: "Tickets for SAS flights not purchased directly from SAS must be canceled and refunded by the vendor."

So it looks like the OP has no choice but to go through CheapoAir and wait for the process to work its way through. Cheapo has to first get the refund credited from SAS. On their site, they say "Please note that we are dependent on the suppliers for receiving the requested refunds. Once the refund has been approved by the supplier it may take additional time for this to appear on your credit card statement." Then they give a 60-90 day window.

Go back to SAS and argue your case. Airlines are notorious for trying to fob people off, I've experienced it several times. An employee strike is not an extraordinary circumstance. They were striking for a reason, this would have been discussed, threatened and arranged for some time before the strike and therefore the airline would have been completely aware of it. Businesses don't suddenly experience an unexpected, impromptu strike by hundreds or thousands of staff so their claim that it was an extraordinary circumstance is clutching at straws.

Forget CheapoAir, they're not going to help you. You need to badger SAS. I have used the services of an agency that takes a cut of the compensation,I don't see any reason why any of these companies (and there are many) would not offer the same service for you simply because you're a US citizen. They're not government affiliated, they're businesses out to make money, they'll argue your case usually on a "no win, no fee" basis and airlines are more likely to concede as these businesses know the ins and outs of the law.

SAS may be trying to make out that Krüsemann doesn't apply since that did have a number of unusual aspects, but that is not what consumer law bodies think. As said above, you have the option of continuing yourself, or employing someone to pursue on a percentage basis.