Afraid to book with Aer Lingus?

vodafoneproblem

I have found myself unwilling to book these cheap Aer Lingus deals lately due to the industrial unrest there aka not wanting to be stranded. Is anyone else finding themselves in the same situation? I know at least one of my close friends is of the same mind. How much are they losing out due to this, I wonder.

rugbyman

book away. the cabin crew have been given a chance to vote again and to join all the other sectors of AL ,who want the airline to survive, oh, and to avail of better redundancy than they nearly walked themselves into.

Rugbyman

FlutterinBantam

rugbyman wrote: »

book away. the cabin crew have been given a chance to vote again and to join all the other sectors of AL ,who want the airline to survive, oh, and to avail of better redundancy than they nearly walked themselves into.

Rugbyman

Hope you are right, but one should never underestimate the kind of people who run the union show out there.

There are people who refused big payouts and lump sums just to 'piss off management'

With attitudes like that nothing is cut and dried, though I think they realise at long last that Herr Mueller means business and the dead hand of Drumcondra is no longer in the right hand seat;)

vodafoneproblem

What happens if the cabin crew vote no again, though? I think they need to resolve this in a lot shorter time than 22 days if they want to retain the business of people like me. I've already booked my next flight with my least favourite Irish airline - RA.

FlutterinBantam

Hopefully they will have seen sense and vote yes.

This kind of crud had been going on for the last 30 years regular as clockwork.

Only thing which kept things going is the Govt. capitulation to the Unions at every hands turn.

By most standards jobs at Dublin airport and Aer Lingus are well paid ,well conditioned and well pensioned and secure.

Now where has been the flash point of industrial unrest in Ireland over the last twenty years?

Dublin Airport and Aer Lingus.!!!

Most people out there were doing the high wire act with a large safety net over the years, now the net has gone.


let's see how brave they are!

vodafoneproblem

Brave or stupid, the end result is the same to me: stranded! Therefore, I will not book AL until they sort this out.

FlutterinBantam

If I were a betting man, I would say there will be no strikes or unrest.

But I certainly can see your reluctance to book.

Taxipete29

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Hope you are right, but one should never underestimate the kind of people who run the union show out there.

There are people who refused big payouts and lump sums just to 'piss off management'

With attitudes like that nothing is cut and dried, though I think they realise at long last that Herr Mueller means business and the dead hand of Drumcondra is no longer in the right hand seat;)

The Union advised the members to vote yes the first time around. Its not those who run the union but rather the members who were the problem. Get your facts right.

FlutterinBantam

Taxipete29 wrote: »

The Union advised the members to vote yes the first time around. Its not those who run the union but rather the members who were the problem. Get your facts right.

I have my facts right.

That's why I said 'the people who run the union show' The shop stewards don't work for the Union.

yes, you are right that the Impact TU urged a yes vote, but it's the militants on the ground who usually have a bolt hole didn't see the train coming down the tracks till it hit them.

At least Impact had the cop on to realise the game was up.

ei.sdraob

im with OP, i wouldn't fly AL now, why take the risk and the hassle

not that i can fly, still waiting on my passport 3 weeks later thanks to a separate "industrial action"

murphaph

ei.sdraob wrote: »

im with OP, i wouldn't fly AL now, why take the risk and the hassle

not that i can fly, still waiting on my passport 3 weeks later thanks to a separate "industrial action"

I wonder how much business and jobs the great boys and girls passport office have cost Ireland in the past few weeks? The are treacherous leeches IMO. A no strike, no "go to newry for the day" and a no "let's all head home early on a friday" clause should be part of any reform. The German Beamte are FORBIDDEN BY LAW from such actions, and rightly so.

Back to AL....I reckon the cabin crew are infested with old hags who would otherwise be retiring in a few years and who basically risked their younger colleagues' furures by voting no. Some show of solidarity from these champagne socialists. Hopefully (for the sake of the sane ones) the AL cabin crew will accept the proposals put to them by managment and AGREED with their poxy unions (the same unions who have an entirely different strategy when it comes to government and the PS....)

FlutterinBantam

murphaph wrote: »

I wonder how much business and jobs the great boys and girls passport office have cost Ireland in the past few weeks? The are treacherous leeches IMO. A no strike, no "go to newry for the day" and a no "let's all head home early on a friday" clause should be part of any reform. The German Beamte are FORBIDDEN BY LAW from such actions, and rightly so.

Back to AL....I reckon the cabin crew are infested with old hags who would otherwise be retiring in a few years and who basically risked their younger colleagues' furures by voting no. Some show of solidarity from these champagne socialists. Hopefully (for the sake of the sane ones) the AL cabin crew will accept the proposals put to them by managment and AGREED with their poxy unions (the same unions who have an entirely different strategy when it comes to government and the PS....)

A poster who is way more close to the coalface assures me that ,while that may once have been valid, it is not the case now.

StinkySocs

Oh No! I never thought of this, I'm going to a wedding July out of the country. Hate Ryanair and would rather suck on lemons then go with them, so booked with AL.

Fingers crossed it all works out ok

Fat_Fingers

Hate is a bit strong, if it wasn't for likes of Ryanair you would still be paying 1000 pounds/euro to fly to London.

ixoy

I went with Ryanair with my most recently-booked flight due to fears that Aer Lingus would strike. I'm fed up with the threats of strikes from them:

- I had it hanging over me when I went on holiday in October last year (just after the initial cost-cutting measures were annonced).
- I was in Paris in November the year before, due to go home on the Monday. The strike was only called off the day before I went home.
- I had it hanging over another holiday before that again.

In each case yes the strike was averted, although in one case it was a day before I was due to fly. In each case of course it added stress to my holiday, wondering if I'd even have a holiday - I questioned whether to book a second flight for example so I wouldn't be trapped abroad (not as enjoyable as it might sound given it costs money and time).

So now I'm thinking - why take the risk? Sure Aer Lingus, in general, is a nicer flight experience but I'm sick and tired of feeling like I might have no holiday experience at all. I'm going to do my best to seek out all viable alternatives until they sort themselves out.

zootroid

ixoy wrote: »

I went with Ryanair with my most recently-booked flight due to fears that Aer Lingus would strike. I'm fed up with the threats of strikes from them:

- I had it hanging over me when I went on holiday in October last year (just after the initial cost-cutting measures were annonced).
- I was in Paris in November the year before, due to go home on the Monday. The strike was only called off the day before I went home.
- I had it hanging over another holiday before that again.

In each case yes the strike was averted, although in one case it was a day before I was due to fly. In each case of course it added stress to my holiday, wondering if I'd even have a holiday - I questioned whether to book a second flight for example so I wouldn't be trapped abroad (not as enjoyable as it might sound given it costs money and time).

So now I'm thinking - why take the risk? Sure Aer Lingus, in general, is a nicer flight experience but I'm sick and tired of feeling like I might have no holiday experience at all. I'm going to do my best to seek out all viable alternatives until they sort themselves out.

Can't see that happening any time soon, such is the culture that exists within the company.

jmayo

Well OP about the only possible safe bet is Ryanair as BA are facing industrial unrest, Lufthansa pilots are on some sort of strike and God knows what other airline will have problem over coming months.
Saying that I have booked few weeks back with EI and don't fancy been left sitting at an airport trying to figure how to get out or get back.

jester77

I've a flight booked to Ireland with them at Easter, I'm also a little concerned, but they are the only option to me unless I fly through the UK. Easter would be a prime time for them to cause as much disruption as they can and I don't want to get stuck in Dublin airport with no way back, so I'll be giving the trip a miss if there is a possibilty that they will strike at that time.

Sleepy

I've flown return from Dublin to London Gatwick every week since the end of November. Only once were Aer Lingus cheaper than Ryanair so I took them and ended up sat on the runway for an hour and a half before we took off. Whilst booking my flights for the next month earlier this week, I didn't even check Aer Lingus's site despite them operating a service that's within 15 minutes of the Ryanair one outbound and a couple of hours earlier on the return leg.

I can't trust them to get me where I need to go on-time due to their never-ending industrial relations problems and even if I could, I know Ryanair will be cheaper. Even during the heavy snow, I've not had anything over an hour of a delay from them when other airlines (mainly Easyjet to be fair to Aer Lingus) were cancelling flights left, right and centre stranding people in London over Christmas.

Yes, the constant intercom announcements are annoying but a pair of noise cancelling headphones can be had in the airport for €15 these days and the Ryanair website really isn't *that* difficult to figure your way around without getting screwed for add-ons.

There's next to no difference in comfort on the flights. True, you get the option to choose your seat with AL's check in kiosks but those increase the chances of you missing your flight versus Ryanair's web check-in and any of the Aer Lingus planes I've been on over the past two years are looking pretty tired compared to the more modern fleet of 737's Ryanair are running.

I'm only one customer but Ryanair have had well over €2000 worth of business from me in the last 4 months because Aer Lingus just can't compete with them. It's nice to see I'm not the only one OP.