Transport

Anger among passengers grows as impact of dispute becomes clear

Louise Pedreschi said everyone involved is ‘worried as it’s not just a holiday it’s a huge family event with many travelling from all over the world’

Customers who had been looking forward to trips away for months have been speaking of their growing disappointment. Photograph: Alan Betson

Conor Pope
Sun Jun 23 2024 - 19:49

Aer Lingus customers who had been looking forward to trips away for months – and sometimes years – have been speaking of their growing disappointment and anger at potentially missing out on weddings, once-in-a-lifetime holidays and the chance to represent Ireland at international sporting events.

Louise Pedreschi is due to travel to a family wedding in Italy in early July. She said everyone involved is “worried as it’s not just a holiday it’s a huge family event with many travelling from all over the world”.

She told The Irish Times that it was “galling” the IALPA “can hold the country to ransom with their already amazing salaries” and noted that the pilots in dispute with Aer Lingus earn substantially more than she does as an ICU nurse.

“When we went on strike we were compelled to ensure safe staffing and minimal interruption. In fact, the hospital I work in was never better staffed during the strike,” she said.

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“I really don’t want to compare professions in any way but it’s really hard to have sympathy when hubris and greed are, in my opinion, the driving factors. Some of our family will be impacted and may miss this once-in-a-lifetime event. It’s so disappointing and unnerving as we wait to see how this pans out .”

With the kids getting bigger, we hadn’t splashed out outside of a week in Spain every other year since 2015

—  George

Ian Lawler’s daughter is a member of a national youth climbing team and she is set to represent Ireland at two European Youth Cup climbing competitions in Austria and Slovakia in July.

“Our family and her team-mates are scheduled fly out to Munich with Aer Lingus and travel onwards to Innsbruck for a pre-competition training camp at what is probably the best climbing wall in Europe on July 4th,” he said.

“We have over €3,000 of accommodation booked over the following three weeks as the athletes train, travel between venues and compete. Disruption to our outward travel would be absolutely disastrous for our competitors preparation never mind the costs that are at risk. We are all beside ourselves with worry as to what the next 11 days are going to bring instead of focusing on the athletes preparation and training. It’s a disaster.”

Another reader who asked to be identified by his first name George said he and his wife decided two years ago to “go on a big holiday” this summer.

“With the kids getting bigger, we hadn’t splashed out outside of a week in Spain every other year since 2015. In 2024, we wanted to make some memories and do something very different. So, we started saving, put travel abroad on hold in 2023, and booked a cruise departing for Rome from Dublin on June 29th.”

[ Transport Aer Lingus dispute deepens with accusations of ‘blackmail’ and ‘greed’ ]

The trip was to be a surprise for his children but given work and family commitments it is a surprise that may never happen as they either travel next Saturday “or we don’t travel at all”.

“We booked and paid a deposit for our dream cruise at the end of last summer with balance due early this year which we paid in full and on time. In total, we paid just over €7,400 for two adults and two kids for a seven-day cruise around the Mediterranean stopping at about four destinations along the way,” he said.

“The likelihood of traveling in 2024 is getting more slim by the day. Having already spent a significant amount of money on clothes, insurance, pet care, bus tickets and other aspects of preparation, we fear it will all be for nothing and we’ll be left counting the cost come June 29th should this action continue.”

Conor Pope

Conor Pope

Conor Pope is Consumer Affairs Correspondent, Pricewatch Editor

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