Aer Lingus is beginning to contact thousands of passengers whose flights will be canceled due to industrial action.
Most of the affected flights will be on routes connecting the Republic’s airports with Europe, but some transatlantic services may also be affected. Services from Cork, Dublin and Shannon airports will also be affected.
Here’s everything we know (and don’t know) so far:
Will my Aer Lingus flight be canceled next weekend?
That’s the question that almost everyone who has booked a flight with the airline in the coming days wants answered. The useless answer is that at this point – at the time of writing – we don’t know for sure, although the airline has published a list of the flights canceled so far and released a statement on what’s next to happen.
What did that statement say?
The statement issued on Friday afternoon said: “24 flights per day have been canceled in the first five days of industrial action – a total of 124 flights over those five days. This will impact approximately 4,000 customers per day and 20,000 customers over the five days. The number of cancellations is currently at the lower end of the 10 to 20 percent range. However, given the format of the industrial action, additional cancellations may occur close to the time of travel.”
Aer Lingus criticized the pilots’ union’s “insidious and indefinite” form of industrial action. “Without these cancellations, the consequences for customers would be much worse,” the airline said.
Well, that seems bad. What should passengers do?
It’s bad. And on the passenger side, Aer Lingus has said it has “automatically rebooked some customers on alternative flights and started emailing all other customers to inform them of the cancellation and notify them of their options: change their flight for free, request a refund or to request a voucher.
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Why is it canceling flights now when there is only work to be done?
As we are heading into peak holiday season and all airlines would expect to be calling on their staff to work additional hours above and beyond what they are scheduled to do during those peak times. The job of governing means that pilots will refuse to do that. Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus’ chief corporate affairs officer, has said it had to make the decisions about which flights to cancel early because the work to govern would otherwise have had unpredictable consequences, including last-minute flight cancellations.
Will a summer of canceled flights hurt Harris?
When will we know exactly what is going on?
According to travel writer and owner of the travel magazine Eoghan Corry, we are entering uncharted territory and it is unclear how important the work of governing will be. It will likely be several more days before the full picture of what could happen will emerge. but we do have an idea which flights could be the first to fall victim to the dispute.
[ Aer Lingus to give passengers details of cancelled flights, with Dublin, Cork and Shannon Airports affected ]
And what are they?
According to industry sources, Aer Lingus’s main focus will be on minimizing disruption to its passengers because, apart from the reputational damage and financial costs to the company and its passengers, it is also playing a high-stakes game of poker with Ialpa.
Poker?
Aer Lingus management hopes it can weather the storm for as long as possible without disrupting too many passengers. If that succeeds, it will weaken the hand of the pilots’ union in any subsequent negotiations. For its part, Ialpa hopes that they can significantly disrupt Aer Lingus management’s plans, thereby forcing management back to the table with a significantly weakened hand.
I have no interest in their games, I just want to know if my flight will be cancelled?
According to Corry, Aer Lingus will initially look to consolidate flights on busy short-haul routes. So if they have four flights a day to a particular airport in Britain, they might consider reducing that to three flights. That would free up one of its planes and its crew to serve another airport. Aer Lingus would then attempt to place all passengers on the canceled flight on other flights to the same airport on the same day. While that would be a huge inconvenience for many passengers, it would avoid the nightmare scenario where flights to a particular destination have to be canceled, completely throwing passengers’ plans into disarray and disrupting the logistics of getting them to their destination or from their destination to home, gets completely confused. more difficult.
[ What are my rights if industrial action at Aer Lingus affects my holiday plans? ]
How can they fit four planeloads of people on three planes?
Well, the occupancy rate of Aer Lingus’s planes has never been close to Ryanair’s, so empty seats are often present on those busy routes. They will also be able to count on the support of BA, Vueling and Iberia and deploy aircraft and crews. Aviation sources say there is good capacity on sister airlines, but Aer Lingus says this is not the case.
Are there any other likely targets?
The other early targets for cancellations are flights for which a minimum number of seats have already been booked. By focusing on this, the airline can minimize disruption while protecting key routes.
What are the main routes?
The most important routes for Aer Lingus are of course the transatlantic routes. Tickets cost much more than most of the short and medium distance routes. The planes also carry many more passengers. The other major routes will be the so-called main routes to the busiest airports in southern Europe at the height of the holiday period, such as Faro on the Algarve in Portugal, Malaga on Spain’s south coast and Barcelona further north. The airline will do its best to protect these routes.
When is the strike likely to end?
That’s something we can’t answer, but Corry says he doesn’t think it will take “much longer than a week before Aer Lingus management and IALPA start discussions again. At this point IALPA doesn’t know how much damage they can do and management doesn’t know how well they can handle it. Once they both know what the costs of governing will be, the talks will begin.”
Have we been here before?
Well, in 2003, Wille Walsh, the then head of Aer Lingus, got the pilots over a similar ‘work-to-rule’ operation, which forced the union back to the bargaining table quite quickly, but it’s a very risky one strategy that could lead to what will cost the airline dearly.
What are my rights if my flight is canceled due to a strike?
The airline has clear obligations to all its passengers under EU Directive 261. If you are traveling to another country and your outbound flight is cancelled, Aer Lingus must offer a refund or rerouting on the next available flight or at a later time of your choice.
And what happens if I am abroad and have to come home on a canceled flight?
You have the same rights under EU Regulation 261 to a refund or re-routing on the next available flight or at a later time of your choice.
The airline also has a duty to take its passengers home and care for them abroad until they are able to do so.
This means that passengers are legally entitled to meals and refreshments while stranded and, if necessary, they must cover the costs of hotel accommodation and transport between the hotel and the airport.
And will the airline arrange my accommodation and food?
It could be, but it is not more likely. If you are abroad and the airline does not provide the care and assistance it should, you must make reasonable arrangements yourself.
The definition of reasonable is broad, but people who stay in a modestly priced hotel and eat in modestly priced restaurants while they wait for the industrial action to end will be able to reclaim that money. It is incredibly important to keep all receipts as they will be needed to file the claim.
And do I send the receipts to the airline?
It is important that you send copies of all receipts to Aer Lingus (it is very important that the original documentation is never sent in case it is lost).
Entries must also include booking references, passenger names and original and new flight details. If you do not get your money back within a reasonable time (e.g. four weeks), contact the Irish Aviation Authority.
And can I be compensated?
There is a good chance that you can expect compensation. While strikes by baggage handlers or air traffic controllers are considered extraordinary circumstances beyond Aer Lingus’s control, this does not apply to internal industrial action, meaning compensation payable under EU regulations must be paid.
The amount of compensation payable depends on the distance of the flight. If the flight is classified as short distance, the amount to be paid is €250 per person. It costs €400 for a medium-haul flight and €600 per person for a long-haul flight.
To give you an idea of the distances: Dublin to Paris is a short distance, Dublin to Barcelona is a medium distance and Dublin to New York is a long distance.
So compensation is certain, right?
No, there may be a fly in the ointment. Corry said it was likely that Aer Lingus would challenge in court its obligations under EU Directive 261 to pay compensation to passengers with delayed or canceled flights on the grounds that it had taken all possible steps to resolve the dispute. prevention, including the use of all the mechanisms of the Workplace Relations Commission.
“It will all come down to costs, but they certainly have the ability to challenge EU 261 in court and there is no shortage of lawyers putting on their wigs and standing up and arguing their case. Whether they win or not, I can’t say, but the legal wrangling could last three or four years.”
And will the airline reimburse the cost of the lost hotel accommodation?
No. But some travel insurance policies may cover travel disruptions. Many don’t do this, so you should check the terms and conditions carefully.