36 Best Things to do in Vancouver, Canada In 2024

More Flights Cancelled As Aer Lingus Dispute Continues

Aer Lingus has confirmed it is cancelling a further 122 flights up until 7 July due to the ongoing industrial action by pilots.

The airline has now cancelled almost 400 flights as a result of an indefinite work-to-rule and strike action by pilots.

The work-to-rule means not working over time or carrying out any other out-of-hours duties.

An eight-hour strike from 05:00 -13:00 local time is planned for Saturday.

Aer Lingus said that due to the "indefinite nature" of Irish Air Line Pilots' Association pilots' industrial action it "must cancel" additional flights up to 7 July.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ had reported that the recommendation for an additional strike was made by IALPA on Thursday.

However, on Friday afternoon, Capt Mark Tighe, president of the union, said that Ireland's Labour Court has invited both parties in the dispute to return to them on Monday afternoon.

"We are in the process of discussing that and that of course would have relevance to whether or not we escalate the industrial action," he told Radio Ulster's Evening Extra programme.

"I'm hoping now that they have noted the seriousness of the situation and that they'll be able to apply their considerable expertise."

Talks between it and Aer Lingus to resolve the ongoing pay dispute broke down without a resolution on Thursday.

School pupils 'slept on floor'

A group of students and teachers from Shimna Integrated School in County Down who were retuning from a trip to Berlin had their flight home cancelled while they were in the airport.

Teacher Luke McWatters, said that their 21:45 flight on Thursday was initially showing as delayed and then, more than two hours after the flight was initially due to take off, they were told it was cancelled.

"Trying to ring through to Aer Lingus I was on three different calls to three different agents who, every time I got to a certain way through said: 'Because you're a group we can't do anything for you -you have to contact group Aer Lingus who don't open until 9am'."

Mr McWatters told the BBC's Evening Extra programme that he felt they had been "left high and dry", with no offer of accommodation or food.

Luke McWatters said support from the airline "fell short" of what was expected [Luke McWatters]

He said the group slept on the airport floor.

Mr McWatters said they were offered an alternative flight on 1 July.

"At that stage we made the call to try other airlines and split ourselves up as a group," he added.

Half of the group travelled to Edinburgh, while the other half caught a flight to Poland, with both groups booked on flights back to Ireland on Friday.

Mr McWatters said that the support for Aer Lingus had "fallen very short of what you would expect from a major airline dealing with children".

The BBC has contacted Aer Lingus for a response.

'Reasonable pay claim'

Capt Tighe said "passengers are extremely dear to us as pilots. Management don't meet you, we do every day.

"We've been left in a position where our pay is being eroded and all we're looking to do is maintain our pay."

Speaking to BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme on Friday, Capt Tighe said in an effort to resolve the dispute, the union had said it would accept less than an inflationary rise.

"We don't believe anybody should be getting less than inflation, but yesterday in an effort to resolve this, we said we would accept less than inflation."

However, he added: "We believe inflation is a very reasonable claim in this current time."

IALPA President Capt Mark Tighe said the Labour Court has invited both sides to further discussions on Monday [PA Media]

Additional strike action?

IALPA had recommended to trade union Fórsa that the additional strike should be longer than the action planned for Saturday, RTÉ has reported.

If sanctioned, Fórsa will have to give seven days' notice to Aer Lingus before pilots can stop work.

Aer Lingus has described the potential of further strike action as "entirely inappropriate given the request of the Labour Court this week that the dispute should not be escalated".

Donal Moriarty, Aer Lingus' chief corporate affairs officer, said the airline is "willing to go back to the Labour Court on a formal joint referral basis".

He said Aer Lingus has encouraged IALPA and Fórsa to "agree to this step".

How many Aer Lingus flights have been cancelled?

All Aer Lingus UK regional flights, operated by Emerald Airlines, and Aer Lingus UK transatlantic flights to and from Manchester will operate as scheduled.

A full list of cancelled flights can be found on the airline's website.

How much are Aer Lingus pilots paid?

Co-pilots can start out at about €36,000 (£30,400), with packages increasing based on actual flying hours.

Irish broadcaster RTÉ has reported a captain at the top of the scale can be paid about €287,000 (£242,000).

Capt Mark Tighe explained on Thursday that this can take up to 26 years.

There are differences for pilots depending on whether flights are short or long-haul.

What do I do if my Aer Lingus flight is cancelled?

The airline has said passengers with flights booked up to 7 July have a number of options available.

Aer Lingus will contact passengers who have had their flight cancelled directly via SMS, email or through their travel agent to advise them of their options.

These options include changing the date of your booking free of charge, applying for a refund voucher for future travel or a refund for the full value of your flight.

If a passenger is scheduled to travel up until 7 July but their flight has not been cancelled, they can also change their booking free of charge or apply for a refund voucher for future travel.

"We understand the frustration you must be feeling right now. Our teams are working hard to minimise disruption as much as possible," Aer Lingus said.

View comments

Airline Worker Shares The Best Tips For What To Do If Your Flight Is Cancelled

iStockphoto

Traveling can often be very frustrating, especially if you are flying. These days it can be made even worse by the staff shortages that seem to continually pop up, causing flight delays and cancellations.

With that in mind, airline worker and travel blogger Natalie (@adventuresofmattandnat) recently shared some valuable tips on TikTok for what to do if your flight is canceled to get you back on your way as quickly as possible.

"Always Google 'Bill of Rights' with the airline name," she explained. "It will let you know what your rights are as a customer and what kind of compensation you would get for being on the tarmac for an hour, or if maybe you've been in the airport for five hours, what you get for that.

"Another tip is to download the app, the airline app … you'll probabaly get up to date notifications more than the airline employees.

"Also, for a cancellation and you booked through a third party like Expedia, Priceline or a travel agent, usually the airline will roll you over to the next available flight.

"Now if there's a delay, and you like miss a connecting flight, you need to call who you booked through. Whether that was like American Airlines or or Expedia or Priceline, when you need to talk to somebody always call who you booked through. Trust me. I don't want you waiting on hold for like five and a half hours and they're like, 'sorry, there's nothing we can do, you booked it through Expedia.'"

And finally, her last tip is to use the website FlightAware.Com.

"It tells you where your plane is at in the sky," she explained. "Is it on its way? Is it not on its way? … You can kind of gauge 'am I going to be delayed today?'"

@adventuresofmattandnat Delayed or Cancelled Flight? ✈️ Tips & Tricks from an Airline Employee! #traveltipsandhacks #traveltips ♬ original sound – Matt and Nat

Also, in case you were wondering, she also explained in another TikTok video, how to best use FlightAware.Com.

@adventuresofmattandnat Reply to @akmuller2 how to use FlightAware ✈️ #traveltips #traveltipsandhacks #traveladvice #travel #travelhacks ♬ original sound – Matt and Nat

Nearly 600 Flights Canceled, Delayed Friday At Denver International Airport

As a second day of afternoon thunderstorms brings heavy rain, tennis ball-sized hail and the threat of tornadoes to Colorado, Denver International Airport has canceled or delayed nearly 600 flights Friday.

As of 2:40 p.M., 528 flights had failed to leave the gate on time, and 42 flights were canceled, according to flight tracking data from FlightAware.

Southwest and United had the most delayed flights Friday, with 264 Southwest flights and 134 United flights being held up at the gate. Regional airline SkyWest, the airline that operates United Express, had 75 delays of its own.

SkyWest had the most cancellations Friday, with 26 flights being struck from the roster. United followed close behind with 16 canceled flights.

Due to a traffic management program in effect for weather at the Denver airport, incoming flights were being delayed by up to 90 minutes Friday afternoon, according to the FAA.

Southwest, United, SkyWest, Frontier, Delta, American Airlines, Key Lime Air, Alaska Airlines, Air Canada, AeroMéxico, Lufthansa and Jet Blue were all affected by weather-related flight delays Friday.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.

---