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I Wonder What The C Stands For
Jun. 20th, 2011 11:35 pmI have spent most of the last five days trying to work out how to avoid the industrial action which is set to rain down on Britain's airports next Thursday. The long and the short of it is I can't.
I phoned the airline up and they are not aware of the strike taking place. Everyone is waiting on BAA to tell us just how each airport will be effected, something I doubt they will fully know until the morning of 30 June. My tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable, which seems to be a common theme with most internet transactions these days. How long has this poor excuse of consumer rights been practised? Furthermore, if I book with another airline for the day before, I will have to book return flights as my current airline will not honour the return part of my ticket unless I travel out with them. And they will still charge me a cancellation fee if I decide to go down this route.
All this is likely to cost me £400, which means I am probably going to have to take my chances on Thursday week. The hope is that between now and then, the strike will be called off (unlikely due to the war of words intensifying over the weekend) or so few PCS members do walk out that things will generally be running as normal (after all, only 1 in 5 actually voted for this route). The problem is that at this stage, the reality could be anywhere between two extremes. The airport could be closed completely or it could be as if everything is normal. I hate this uncertainty. And I hate having my hands tied because of it.
Anyway, if I don't get to fly out, this means I could potentially have lost around £1000 as hotels and trips have been booked in advance. No doubt half of these are non-refundable as well. I tend to book insurance just before I go away but obviously no one's going to insure me now. I may still be on an old policy but I doubt it.
Meanwhile, the head of the PCS Union has been harping on about how the suffering of honest hard-working civil servants is unacceptable, clearly without giving a damn about the honest hard-working members of the public who his organisation is significantly inconveniencing. Perhaps I should send a bill to the PCS should I incur any personal losses, I'd love to see how that goes down. Sorry, I guess it's just the anger and frustration talking but I am so annoyed it's untrue.
I know industrial relations are complicated and I understand both sides of the debate, it's just so frustrating to be caught in the middle of this, worrying about what the hell is going to happen. The thought of sitting at Gatwick Airport for the best part of three days leaves me cold so hopefully it won't come to that. In the meantime, I have done all I can. It promises to be one hell of an adventure.
I phoned the airline up and they are not aware of the strike taking place. Everyone is waiting on BAA to tell us just how each airport will be effected, something I doubt they will fully know until the morning of 30 June. My tickets are non-refundable and non-transferrable, which seems to be a common theme with most internet transactions these days. How long has this poor excuse of consumer rights been practised? Furthermore, if I book with another airline for the day before, I will have to book return flights as my current airline will not honour the return part of my ticket unless I travel out with them. And they will still charge me a cancellation fee if I decide to go down this route.
All this is likely to cost me £400, which means I am probably going to have to take my chances on Thursday week. The hope is that between now and then, the strike will be called off (unlikely due to the war of words intensifying over the weekend) or so few PCS members do walk out that things will generally be running as normal (after all, only 1 in 5 actually voted for this route). The problem is that at this stage, the reality could be anywhere between two extremes. The airport could be closed completely or it could be as if everything is normal. I hate this uncertainty. And I hate having my hands tied because of it.
Anyway, if I don't get to fly out, this means I could potentially have lost around £1000 as hotels and trips have been booked in advance. No doubt half of these are non-refundable as well. I tend to book insurance just before I go away but obviously no one's going to insure me now. I may still be on an old policy but I doubt it.
Meanwhile, the head of the PCS Union has been harping on about how the suffering of honest hard-working civil servants is unacceptable, clearly without giving a damn about the honest hard-working members of the public who his organisation is significantly inconveniencing. Perhaps I should send a bill to the PCS should I incur any personal losses, I'd love to see how that goes down. Sorry, I guess it's just the anger and frustration talking but I am so annoyed it's untrue.
I know industrial relations are complicated and I understand both sides of the debate, it's just so frustrating to be caught in the middle of this, worrying about what the hell is going to happen. The thought of sitting at Gatwick Airport for the best part of three days leaves me cold so hopefully it won't come to that. In the meantime, I have done all I can. It promises to be one hell of an adventure.
