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British Airways (BA) could face compensation claims worth millions of euros if court action against the airline is successful, it has been claimed.

Dutch firm EUclaim says it intends to take the company to a Netherlands court to determine whether BA is liable to pay compensation to air passengers whose travel plans were disrupted by planned industrial action earlier this year.

After negotiating with BA, EUclaim has already secured compensation
on behalf of five of the airline's passengers who were affected by the planned walkout by the company's cabin crew.

Although the industrial action was eventually called off, the end of the strike threat did not come soon enough for some passengers who had already made alternative travel plans as a result.

EUclaim initially reached an out of court settlement with BA on behalf of three passengers who were stranded in Cape Town after their planned flight to Amsterdam with the airline was cancelled on February 2nd 2007 – due to the planned strike.

But the company claims BA insisted two further claims from the same flight subsequently be settled subject to a confidentiality agreement.

BA is now being accused by EUclaim of trying to keep the settlements quiet in order to prevent other affected passengers from taking similar action.

Commenting on the planned court action against BA, EUclaim chief executive Hendrik Noorderhaven said: "The flights were cancelled only a few days beforehand and British Airways should have informed passengers at the time of booking that there were planned strikes.

"If you leave thousands of passengers stranded all over the world then you must take responsibility," he added.

EUclaim is pursuing the case against BA under European Union regulations, which it says mean an airline can only cancel a flight up to two weeks before departure without being responsible for compensating passengers. The only exception to the rule is if the cancellation of flights occurs as a result of "extraordinary circumstances".

Reports suggest that if the case proves successful, thousands of other passengers could seek compensation from BA as a result of disruption they suffered due to the industrial dispute.

BA was not available for comment.