Major new ‘too late’ Aer Lingus strikes alert as people warned over penalties

A TRAVEL agent has told how Irish holidaymakers could face delays, possibly cancellations and financial penalties this summer.

The Chief Executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association said it is impossible to determine the full impact of the disruption that will be caused as a result of the Aer Lingus pilot strikes.

Speaking to RTE’s Morning Ireland, Clare Dunne noted that it is the travelling public who will be the victims and said it’s inevitable that holidaymakers will face disruption.

She added that passengers, who are “really, really worried” about the disruptions, have paid a lot of money for their holidays, and for many it is their only chance to get a break.

She explained: “They can’t look forward to their holidays now because they don’t know if they’re going to be able to go or not.

“They’re facing into long delays, possibly cancellations, possibly financial penalties, because if they booked their flight and their accommodation separately, they may lose on that if their flight is cancelled and they can’t get where they need to go”

Her advice for passengers is to “sit tight and see how it pans out”.

Clare explained: “That’s really all we can do at this point. There’s not much point in cancelling and losing money on the basis that you might be disrupted, because we don’t know yet.”

Passengers who are currently booked with Aer Lingus will now be penalised if they change their flights, according to Ms Dunne.

Unfortunately, she added that it is now “too late” for passengers to take out travel insurance to cover the costs of possible disruption as the work-to-rule is known event.

She warned that the tourism industry in Ireland will be badly hit, as people will not be able to travel here.

Yesterday, the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association served a notice of an indefinite work-to-rule from Wednesday June 26 over a dispute of pay.

Pilots will refuse to work overtime and will also refuse any other out-of-hours duties requested by management.

They will also refuse to log on to online portals for the airline or answer work phone calls outside of work hours.

In a statement, Aer Lingus described the disruption as “entirely unnecessary”.

They said: “IALPA’s decision to serve notice of industrial action by Aer Lingus pilots commencing on 26^th June was entirely unnecessary.

“Aer Lingus will assess the impact of the full detail of the industrial action served by IALPA, including the strict ‘work to rule’ that they have outlined.

‘DISRUPTION IS INEVITABLE’

“It will inevitably result in significant disruption to our customers and to other employees. Aer Lingus will do everything possible to minimise the disruption to customers, but unfortunately a significant level of disruption is inevitable.”

The airline added that they had warned the IALPA that industrial action at this time of the year would cause “significant disruption”.

The statement continued: “In advance of being served with the notice, Aer Lingus wrote to IALPA informing them that industrial action at this time of year would cause very significant disruption and have a devastating impact on customers and their families going into the summer holiday season. In that context, Aer Lingus asked IALPA that advance notice of at least fifteen days be provided.

“Such a level of notice which has been a norm where industrial action has been taken internationally in other airlines, would provide Aer Lingus with more opportunity to try to make alternative arrangements for a greater number of customers. IALPA declined Aer Lingus’ request to give advance notice of at least 15 days.”

On Monday, IALPA members at Aer Lingus voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action – up to and including strike action.

IALPA president Captain Mark Tighe said: “We are now at a point where this dispute has escalated to indefinite industrial action by pilots.

“We are in this position because management have failed to provide us with a meaningful offer on pay that accounts for inflation and the sacrifices made by pilots to save Aer Lingus during the pandemic,” he added.

Talks between pilots at Aer Lingus and management ended without agreement last Thursday evening.