Aer Lingus Flight Crew Industrial relations thread 2024

20% cancellations because people will work to their contracts?

Sounds like Aer Lingus has a failing business model

1. The point you are labouring to make is, using your own words, complete rubbish. Plenty of industries where things happen on the fly, the workflow is dynamic, short notice may be required for big jobs etc. Happens everywhere, not just the airline industry. The way you deal with it is by paying staff to either be on call or to be present in case something comes up. That's not what AL want to do, though, cos it costs money. Instead, they're effectively having pilots on call without paying them for the privilege, which is scumbag behaviour.
2. "No company whose industry is highly operational"……..what does this mean? Looks like you're throwing words around to appear clever but, ironically, having the opposite effect. Every industry is highly operational. What are you trying to say?
3. "To assume they haven’t enough pilots because a work to rule cannot be handled without disruption is a flawed extrapolation" Nobody is assuming anything. People are drawing conclusions based on the information being circulated by AL themselves. If everyone does their job and shows up for just their rostered duties without making themselves available for extra-curricular stuff like overtime etc., and that means AL cannot operate a full schedule of flights and have to cancel 20% of them, then they do not have enough pilots. That is a logical and fair extrapolation to make. What other possible reasons could there be?
4. Your entire post reads like it was written by chatGPT

Companies cut corners and reduce their outgoings all the time. They cheap out on x, y and z and keep pushing the boundaries until they get pushback, all in the name of making a few more quid. everything is grand until it blows up in their face. It's the poor mopes on the frontline who end up carrying the can for the incompetence of the higher-ups. If you need X number of pilots per week, then you roster X and have a certain percentage on standby, it's that simple. You pay a little bit more up font in terms of wages but you make more in the long-run by having a stable and sustainable business model.

People get sick, some of them no-show, kids have accidents etc. You need an extra 5-10% more people ready to fill in the gaps to cover this crap. I learned this stuff in 1997 in McDonalds. If you need 3 people to work the regular grill (buns, dressing and grill for those who aren't in the know), you better roster 4 in case one can't make it. Otherwise, there's no big macs and the entire restaurant gets dragged through the mud. You have to pay another €12.50 an hour or whatever, but you're able to sell an extra 400 big macs that you wouldn't have been able to sell otherwise.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

Flying on Sunday June 30th.. was already considering to move my flight for a few days, so the new flexibility could come in handy and opt for a later flight. Oddly enough the email I received states "Aer Lingus will waive the fare difference and change fee if you rebook to travel at a later date. Any fare difference will be reimbursed for bookings within the same cabin type (Business/Economy) as your original booking.”.

Contrary to Ryanair, where when a flight is cancelled (like in covid) you can login and pick any flight change for free.. the EI site asks people pay the fare difference, and then only asks people to submit a reimbursement request, playing the waiting game as to how long it will take before you’d get reimbursed. This will probably deter people from doing so.

Not great as there is still a likelihood that when changing to a flight a few days later could eventually also be cancelled.. making a mess of your reservation.

It’s not a very well informed track unfortunately.

Bit of a deficit in understanding of how seasonal businesses are run, in my opinion.

Please do correct any innacuracies.

Is it that there isn't a shortage of pilots worldwide? Or that EI are not short staffed pilots?

Can you produce evidence that Ei are short of pilots?

Realise that… ‘Operational Reasons’ cover a lot of stuff.

However I would be surprised if the reasons for EI cancellations to live flights due to ‘pilot shortage’ up to now would generate internal concern?

There's a few people on FB already saying they've gotten cancellation emails for Cork to Heathrow (one said she got an email last night). From the booking engine, seems like the last flight at night to Heathrow is gone for a good number of those days next week.

I used life holidays before and they created a Ryanair account for our booking and we had to interact separately for the flights.

Suspect Aer Lingus would be similar.

Effectively you have booked a package holiday.

But you will need to read the small print regarding flights vs flights and accommodation.

Don’t buy the US vs IE based pilots argument. For almost every industry within Ireland, comparable salaries in the US are higher. Don’t think a shift leader at McDonald’s in Ireland makes the equivalent as 100k USD+ as they can do there.

EI pilots should consider moving to the US (there’s a shortage there too) and getting that pay package, but then also fork out a much larger percentage of their income on health care and education for their kids.

See if he can access the flight info via the EI app/website... Can he check in online for example... Can he access the 'manage flight' function? What is the passengers email address for the flight... Is it your son's... Can he add it (you should ALWAYS DO THAT) and mobile number etc.? If it appears as though he has control of the flight, and your son's contact info/email is part of the flight booking on the EI website... It would likely be something your son can handle as if he booked it himself. Ensure they all check the status of their flight in the week/days leading to the flight. If it's showing as cancelled and they have not been notified, then it's time to take action via the travel agent/airline... Enjoy the holiday but keep on top of what's going on... Take action when you're notified or you notice there's been a cancellation. A delay is a dalay... Live with it. Flight status can be accessed via the app/website... Also check flight radar for the incoming flight on the day if travel (dub-croatia)... If it doesn't depart... It can't return... If it's late... Return will be late etc. etc.

The notice period could vary depending on circumstances. EI may know in advance, or it could be 24 hours. Just ensure that contact details are added to booking on EI site (email & mobile)

They won't be stranded. Regardless if they booked through Love Holidays the Airline (EI) are still responsible for taking care of their accomodation if applicable, flight home etc. Don't be panicking.