What does "work to rule" mean for pilots?

[Catchlock]

Just heard Aer Lingus pilots who want a ridiculous pay rise are working to rule from Next Wednesday!

Given I'm supposed to be flying to the states with them On Sunday, I wondered does anyone know what this means in practise?

It means what it says. They basically work to the letter of their contract. Anything out side of that they won't do , so no more favours to the business.

Ok
I wonder will this impact on customers?

There probably will be some impact but that's the point of a strike. Sometimes you need to cause difficulties to get the company to meet demands.

If they are short staffed (either generally, or because of sickness, or flight delays which affect their flight breaks) no one will do overtime. Since so many businesses run with the absolute bare-minimum staffing to cut costs this may lead to flight cancellations. If a flight is fully booked it will be more likely to run than a half-empty one, so see how many seats are still available online. Chances are that this is a pre-threat before the major play-off in the peak summer holiday season.

Are you travelling this Sunday or the Sunday after the start of WTR?

I believe it will have an impact if pilots refuse to go "off roster" to fill gaps and so on, so it could be very disruptive, but it is not an all out strike - yet.

I'm travelling the Sunday after wtr starts. Gutted we have planned this trip for 18months.

What a work to rule involves depends on the scheduling agreement at Aer Lingus but I’d suspect @hastalav might be close with the comment about pilots not volunteering to fill gaps.

Most airlines run very very tight on pilot establishment so there’s not a lot of flex. If for example a pilot goes sick and there are no rostered reserve pilots left to call out operations staff may start ringing around pilots who at home on rostered days off and try and get one of them to come into work in return for overtime.

If (I emphasise it’s if) Aer Lingus use that sort of system one option in the event of a work to rule might be for all pilots to refuse to pick any extra work….

I know, it's quite upsetting, but there are thousands potentially affected by this, which is what the pilots want I suppose. Cold comfort but you will be entitled to compensation and accommodation if the flight is cancelled, and your travel insurance will make up the rest, depending on the policy.

AIG management need to bite the bullet and make a suitable offer PDQ because that will happen in the end anyway. The benchmark is proportionately with BA, Virgin and US based transatlantic carriers. Ryanair is point to point low cost, no frills as we know, so is not in the frame as a comparator for short haul.

https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2024/06/18/aer-lingus-passengers-face-disruption-as-work-to-rule-announced/

“While their move will not ground Aer Lingus flights, it could disrupt, delay or even cancel flights, as pilots and crew are regularly called on to work out of hours to allow the airline deal problems it encounters routinely, particularly during summer.”

IAG sorry, not AIG.

We're in the same boat. So worrying. We've booked through an agent as it's a multi city trip so hoping they're on the ball!

It means they fly planes without stopping to pick up passengers.

Ok I guess we just hope for the best. I'm not worried about loosing money we have that covered It will just be so disappointing for the kids. Ah well. Fingers and toes crossed. I'll get my mam to light a candle in mass.

Fingers crossed for you @Catchlock .

For info the article below answers the question you posed in your OP:

“In a statement the union said the industrial action will involve:

• Not working overtime, or any other out of hours duties requested by management
• Only working the published rosters and not accepting or working any amendments to published rosters
• Not logging into the Aer Lingus portal or ‘e-crew’ outside of work hours
• Not answering phone calls outside of work hours.”

https://www.independent.ie/business/irish/aer-lingus-pilots-to-start-work-to-rule-next-week-as-they-refuse-to-work-overtime/a2017050105.html

@notimagain thanks for this! X