text: Budget airline easyJet has been charging stranded customers a £10 fee for proof that their flight was cancelled. The charge came to light when customers sought to claim money back from travel insurers after French air-traffic strikes affected flights earlier this month. They were asked to provide an airline letter confirming the cancellation, but easyJet told its hard-hit passengers to pay a £10 fee. Scroll down for video . Compensation: The charge came to light when easyJet customers sought to claim money back from travel insurers after French air-traffic strikes affected flights earlier this month. Above, file image . The Association of European Airlines confirmed last night that no other airline has attempted to charge for this and said customers should not be charged. However, a spokesman for easyJet defended the airline’s position, saying: ‘The administration charge for the letter is applied because each letter has to be individually researched and created for each passenger.’ In an email seen by the Mail in response to one customer’s request, easyJet’s customer service team said: ‘We can certainly send you a letter to help you claim on your insurance, that’s not a problem. ‘There is a small administration fee of 10GBP for the letter, which you should be able to claim back through your insurer.’ There were delays and 1,000 flight cancellations across Europe this month following the 48-hour strike by French air-traffic controllers. EasyJet is France’s second-largest airline and cancelled 588 flights over the two days. The airline launched ‘rescue flights’ to repatriate holidaymakers and children stranded abroad. Ryanair cancelled 500 flights while British Airways and Flybe cancelled fewer than 50 each. Travel chaos: There were delays and 1,000 flight cancellations across Europe this month following the 48-hour strike by French air-traffic controllers. Pictured, passengers queue for check-in at Stansted Airport . And flight cancellations have risen by a fifth in the first quarter of 2015 as services were hit by poor weather as well as the strikes. There were 5,080 cancellations in the first three months of 2015 compared to 4,239 in the same period last year. The number of delayed flights increased by 7 per cent with 2,427 hold-ups compared to 2,260. Monarch had the greatest increase in delays – 30 per cent – with 64 incidents, according to figures from compensation firm EUClaim. Strikes: Ryanair cancelled 500 flights while British Airways and Flybe cancelled fewer than 50 each. Above, a flight information board at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where several flights were cancelled . EasyJet has seen a 19 per cent increase with 245 delays in the first four months of this year compared to 206 last year. The EUClaim report said: ‘There are two main reasons for the poor start to the year. Firstly the winter weather across Europe has been worse than 2014 this particularly affected Jet2, easyJet and Monarch who suffered considerable delays on their routes to Chambery and Grenoble in France. ‘The second cause has been the number of strikes in Europe. The four-day Lufthansa strike resulted in some 116 cancelled flights to the UK, strikes by Italian air traffic controllers and security staff in Germany has also compounded the problem.’
target: Customers sought to claim after French strikes affected flights this month .
  Insurers asked passengers for airline letter that confirmed cancellation .
  But easyJet told those affected to pay £10 administration fee for the proof .