Potential Aer Lingus Strike

Savman

Well, this is worth a bump.

Union serves strike notice to Aer Lingus


Aer Lingus passengers could face travel chaos later this month after Siptu today served two weeks strike notice on the airline over its cost-cutting plans.

Hundreds of staff at the carrier’s Dublin, Cork and Shannon bases voted 80% in favour of industrial action on Friday if management press ahead with controversial plans to cut and outsource some 1,300 jobs.

Travellers flying from November 24 could be the first hit if the bitter row escalates.

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhidojojsnid/

AJ2012

sabrina99 wrote: »

I have the same concerns as due to fly to LA with Aer Lingus next week, all I know is that from looking at aer lingus's website they do not appear to give refunds if flights cancelled due to industrial action.
Does anyone know if there is minimum notice period required before strike action?

Can you post a link to Aer Lingus website where it says that they don't give refunds in the case of flights cancelled due to industrial action? I can't find where it says that on their website. I'm due to fly to Orlando at the end of the month and am really concerned about the possible impending strike. But if I end up losing the cost of my ticket on top of that I will not be pleased.

Our man in Havana

They only allow you to rebook if they cancel your flight.

BuffyBot

Well, during the run up to the threathened pilot strike last year they were allowing free changes and full refunds. No reason to assume they won't do the same. They can't really hold on to the money in these kinds of scenarios..

AJ2012

BuffyBot wrote: »

Well, during the run up to the threathened pilot strike last year they were allowing free changes and full refunds. No reason to assume they won't do the same. They can't really hold on to the money in these kinds of scenarios..

Cheers. Thanks for the info. Am due to fly out on the 29th of this month to Orlando. Was hoping that I would at least get there before the industrial action began but they seem to be saying that action could start on the 24th. Arrrrrggghhh!!

Climate Expert

Don't fly with Aer Lingus. Let them go bust and all their staff can go to hell.

They've held this country to ransom for far too long now and their days are numbered.

Ponster

Looking for help on the same issue.

AerLingus flights booked (one-way) for Dec 21 from Paris to Cork. I have the option of booking Ryanair from Beauvais today for a total of 105euro (2 people including bus/taxes).

Is it silly of me not to book Ryanair now as insurance? The flights will only get more expensive with them (10euro per person. Is it best to wait and see what happens? Not living in Ireland I don't know how serious this is...

Our man in Havana

I certainly would, just in case.

Stephen P

My girlfriend is flying to Boston on the 28th. If AL strike does it mean ALL flights are cancelled or are the flights just delayed? Or what happens? Cheers!

White_Feather

Climate Expert wrote: »

Don't fly with Aer Lingus. Let them go bust and all their staff can go to hell.

They've held this country to ransom for far too long now and their days are numbered.

Oh great. Thanks a million for the vote of confidence! Right back at ya so. Hope your company goes bust and you ''go to hell''.

Climate Expert

White_Feather wrote: »

Oh great. Thanks a million for the vote of confidence! Right back at ya so. Hope your company goes bust and you ''go to hell''.

Well if my company goes bust then we'll all be in the hands of the IMF so be careful what you wish for.

Aer Lingus is still a dinasour from the 80s, a company ran first and foremost for its staff. Their luxuries paid for by the state for too many years.

Savman

Climate Expert wrote: »

Aer Lingus is still a dinasour from the 80s, a company ran first and foremost for its staff. Their luxuries paid for by the state for too many years.

I'm afraid I'd be inclined to agree here, there is no place for romanticism in a ruthlessly competitive airline industry. Are Lingo has had years to get itself in order, seems to be faced with problem after problem. It wouldn't be the first national carrier to go under although I'd hate to see that happen, we'd have no oirish airline?

White_Feather

Climate Expert wrote: »

Well if my company goes bust then we'll all be in the hands of the IMF so be careful what you wish for.

Aer Lingus is still a dinasour from the 80s, a company ran first and foremost for its staff. Their luxuries paid for by the state for too many years.

Well, I still think it was a very low thing to say about someones profession. What ever '' luxuries '' your on about, dont exist in EI anymore. And, its not the regular staff that are on the top notch wages, its the hob knobs out there, yet they will remain 'untouched'. So yes, I think EI staff are perfectly within their rights to protest against the un necessary outsourcing.

Are you telling me that you wouldnt stand up for yourself in your employment when you face un necessary redundency?

Climate Expert

White_Feather wrote: »

Well, I still think it was a very low thing to say about someones profession. What ever '' luxuries '' your on about, dont exist in EI anymore. And, its not the regular staff that are on the top notch wages, its the hob knobs out there, yet they will remain 'untouched'. So yes, I think EI staff are perfectly within their rights to protest against the un necessary outsourcing.

Are you telling me that you wouldnt stand up for yourself in your employment when you face un necessary redundency?

If I was to be made redundant then thats the companies prerogative. They are acting in the interests of the business and its nothing to do with staff.
Why aren't there any strikes in Ryanair? Because they avoided this stifling public service union culture of entitlement that AerLingus is plagued by.

White_Feather

Climate Expert wrote: »

If I was to be made redundant then thats the companies prerogative. They are acting in the interests of the business and its nothing to do with staff.
Why aren't there any strikes in Ryanair? Because they avoided this stifling public service union culture of entitlement that AerLingus is plagued by.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055378104&page=4

explains everything there.

Tippex

As has been said earlier Travel agents and Tour Operators are the only ones who are bonded.

If you book online with a credit card you can claim on that otherwise book through a bonded travel agent / Tour operator.

You can check them out herehttp://www.aviationreg.ie/Licence_holders/Default.154.html

BuffyBot

..and can we keep this on topic folks.

This isn't the place to discuss the ins/outs, rights/wrongs of the issue, just how it effects peoples travel plans.

BuffyBot

Split off into a new thread.

Savman

Personally I think people who still book with AL out of choice, preference or some misguided sense of loyalty/patriotism heed their head examined. I haven't stepped on an Aer Lingo flight in a good few years now, last few times I did we were frequently left waiting on arrival in Dublin because they didn't have the staff available to offload passengers from the aircraft.

Let's face it, Ryanair have pretty much wiped the floor with them.

trellheim

Hello there. I am planning a dublin-washington trip in the early New Year 29 Dec/05 Jan return ; I have no wish to be caught in an EI industrial relations bunfight.

all the trip booking engines are pointing at DUB-LHR via EI, and LHR-IAD via BA. [ ditto the return ] The EI legs are what worries me.

Am I best to pay the extra couple of hundred nicker and do it DUB-CDG-IAD via AF ?

or is there some mad booking engine switch I've forgotten ?

Thanks in Advance BTW

lovepink_xo

i am flying out (to sfo) on the 17th, ill be returning to ireland on the 26th..will it affect my travels if there is a strike?

youcancallmeal

Have an Aer Lingus flight myself on the 24th then have to catch a connecting flight to Hong Kong later that day so I'll be really screwed if this strike goes ahead. Rang my travel agent earlier and they were pretty vague about alternative arrangements in the event of strike but they did keep saying we'll definitely know more this time next week

andrewie

I have flights booked for 24th to Paris, off to Disneyland for 6 days. Flight out is at 6.50am so hoping we will be ok...

BuffyBot

youcancallme>al wrote: »

Have an Aer Lingus flight myself on the 24th then have to catch a connecting flight to Hong Kong later that day so I'll be really screwed if this strike goes ahead. Rang my travel agent earlier and they were pretty vague about alternative arrangements in the event of strike but they did keep saying we'll definitely know more this time next week

Well as of yet, Aer Lingus haven't acknowledged it on their website either, so I guess you can't blame the travel agent too much.

As for all the other posters: the situation is that no one knows yet. It could be an all out strike, it could be stoppages or it could be resolved - nothing is clear yet, really.

notnem

I'm flying to Paris on the 17th and then getting a connection to KL (on a different ticket). I booked Ryanair the night before as an insurance policy but will need to overnight in Paris. I've emailed Aer Lingus and this is what they have had to say:

Thank you for contacting aerlingus.com. I apologise for the delay in responding to you. It is your decision to take whatever course of action you wish when booking your flights but at the moment our schedule is due to operate as normal and normal terms and conditions apply.

If you wish to cancel a booking you will have to contact a member of our Web Helpdesk Team on 00353 (0)818 365 044. They are available from 08.00 - 20.00 daily. You will be entitled to claim back the taxes from the ticket only minus a refund fee of Eur20.00 from the taxes.

Obviously little or no help to me or anybody here. I replied:

Great news I can rely on Aer Lingus so... I have 4 hours to catch my connection so you reckon I should be ok?

To which there has been no reply yet.

BuffyBot

No resolution as of yet

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/ireland/aer-lingus-dispute-no-closer-to-being-solved-after-talks-14057793.html

poppysquirrel

Hey all,

I am due to fly out to New York (JFK) on December 8th , and have two hours in JFK to catch a connecting flight with American Airlines down to Florida, and my return flight is December 20th, arriving Dublin December 21st.

I called Aerlingus (or Aer-Fungus as I would be more inclined to call them after all this typical mess) and was told that if I were to cancel my flight, i would get back a grand total of €65, out of the €594 i paid. And if the strike was to go ahead, I would be put on standby for the next availbale flight WITH AER LINGUS. Now, if there was a strike going on, THERE WOULDN'T BE ANY AER LINGUS FLIGHTS! Anyway, I left it at that.

My friend whom booked a similar flight through a travel agens (with Aer Lingus also) was told that the reason that Aer Lingus have such low taxes on their flights are for this ver reason. USually the fare is low and the taxes are high.

I called Aer Lingus again yesterday and this time got a more talkative customer service rep who assured me that nothing was definate as regards the strike, that a notice has been served. She then said that, if their strike was to go ahead, it would begin on November 24th, as outlined in their notice, and at best would only be work stoppages i.e. for 3/4 hours, so flights would at worst be delayed.

ALso, she assured me that the dates on which I am travelling should not be afftected by any industrial actions. As between November 24th and December 8th, something would definately be sorted.

So, in my panic the other day I checked alternative flights but all are not feasible for my travel times, so My plan is to hold tough. As with the past 4 or 5 years, there has been an Aerlingus strike threatening every year, and none have gone ahead. Surely the government will step in, if not for the sake of 100's or 1000's familys travelling home for CHristmas.

Good luck to everyone travelling with Aerlingus.

<mod edit>

BuffyBot

As stated already - let's keep the discussion about the rights/wrongs of this situation to more appropriate forums. The remit of this forum is for logistical travel issues only, not industrial relations issues.

BuffyBot

I see aerlingus.com's Help section has the following message:

Our 'Help Inquiry' facility is unavailable at present. Please try again later.


That's ermm helpful.

They really need to make a call on letting people rebook/cancel without charges, and to do it soon. It's getting to be quite short notice and people will find it very hard to make alternative arrangements at such short notice.

Loco

BuffyBot wrote: »

..and can we keep this on topic folks.

This isn't the place to discuss the ins/outs, rights/wrongs of the issue, just how it effects peoples travel plans.

Where is then?

I have a flight booked for the 24th, London to Cork, so i'm looking into making other arrangements should they go on strike, which is looking likely.

The cheapest (lonely Christmas) option is to fly home on the 26th with Ryanair.

Bloody*Mary

trellheim wrote: »

Hello there. I am planning a dublin-washington trip in the early New Year 29 Dec/05 Jan return ; I have no wish to be caught in an EI industrial relations bunfight.

all the trip booking engines are pointing at DUB-LHR via EI, and LHR-IAD via BA. [ ditto the return ] The EI legs are what worries me.

Am I best to pay the extra couple of hundred nicker and do it DUB-CDG-IAD via AF ?

or is there some mad booking engine switch I've forgotten ?

Thanks in Advance BTW

You can use British Midland flights for connections with BA in LHR. Should be the same cost depening on availability.

Ponster

Ryanair dropped their Paris Shannon flights from 24€ to 0€.

45€ for 2 people with 1 bag checked in isn't bad as a backup plan

Our man in Havana

Ponster wrote: »

Ryanair dropped their Paris Shannon flights from 24€ to 0€.

45€ for 2 people with 1 bag checked in isn't bad as a backup plan

Nope. You won't regret it.

Adelie

SIPTU not optimistic on Aer Lingus talks:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1118/aerlingus.html

Great, I've flights booked for the weekend after the strike might start. And thanks to time restraints the day I'm leaving, I can't find any alternative options. Guess I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed :mad:

Ponster

Bond-007 wrote: »

Nope. You won't regret it.

What I will regret is the road from Shannon to Clonmel which will take just as long as the flight from Beauvais to Shannon !

youcancallmeal

Looks like we might be okay, fingers crossed!

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1120/aerlingus.html

BuffyBot

Averted, for the moment

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1120/aerlingus.html