Britons travelling to and from Italy should brace for disruption as strike action is set to impact air travel.
Air passengers face two threats to their travel plans on Monday, March 24 as easyJet pilots and Italian baggage handlers prepare for simultaneous strikes.
A 24-hour walkout is set to cause significant disruption across major Italian airports, potentially affecting thousands of travellers.
easyJet pilots will begin their strike at midnight Central European Time on March 24, with the walkout lasting 24 hours.
Two strikes are set to cause significant disruption to holiday plans
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The industrial action is backed by powerful European unions including ANPAC, FILT and CGIL.
There is a silver lining for affected easyJet passengers though, who could be entitled to compensation of up to £520 for the inconvenience caused.
Compounding the disruption, staff at Assohandlers, one of Italy's largest airport handler associations, will also strike on the same day.
Assohandlers represents baggage handlers and ground staff at major airports including Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Naples, Catania and Venice.
The double strike could severely impact passengers flying with easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air, as Assohandlers works with all three airlines.
CEO at AirAdvisor Anton Radchenko commented on the strikes and how they could impact holidaymakers.
He said: "These strikes present a dual threat to air passengers' plans. Pilot walkouts are particularly damaging and regularly lead to flights being cancelled.
"On this occasion, the pilots' industrial action falls on the same day as handler strikes in Italy, which could lead to large-scale disruption.
"easyJet is in a particularly troublesome position, with not only its pilots striking, but also staff at one of its key handling partners in Italy set to walk out.
"When pilots strike, carriers may draft in standby or management pilots that belong to unions that aren’t striking, however, this is a complicated process that alone doesn’t prevent certain services from being cancelled.
"There is legislation in place to compensate air passengers affected by airline strikes - and in the case of the easyJet industrial action, the airline will owe you compensation if your flight is delayed by more than three hours or cancelled.
"Depending on the distance of your intended journey, you could be due up to £520 in compensation.
"easyJet is obliged to pay up for flights cancelled as a result of its own staff striking as the courts consider the inconvenience to be within the airlines' control - or in other words, avoidable.
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Britons in Italy are advised to download their airline's app and sign up for alerts
GETTY IMAGES"If you're due to travel anywhere with easyJet or on any airline's flight to Italy on March 24, make sure you have your airline's app on your phone and sign up for email and SMS alerts. Keep an eye on your carrier's website and social media channels too."
Visitors to Italy earlier this month may have seen their holiday plans thwarted as strike action threatened air, rail and road travel.
The strike action in Italy comes as two months of travel disruption is announced in Europe, with holidaymakers warned of "limited service".
Eurostar's Germany timetable will be affected by engineering works until May.
