Heathrow summer holiday shutdown threats

[C0rnfl0wer]

So having been sweating about BA pilots striking, then climate change drone attacks it now transpires Heathrow will be shut down the day we are due to fly due to Heathrow staff striking .

Fed up with holiday makers being held to ransome in the school holidays. We’ve had the shitiest of shit years, saved for ages for our trip and now have two weeks of sweating and probably a cancelled holiday as the shut down is due the day we fly.

Doing this the day schools break up and the busiest weekend of the year is just a nasty thing to do and surely kills off any possible sympathy for causes.

When you have £80k+ minimal debt plus extras like loans for the years you are training to pay off, but are made to work longer for less pay, wih "perks" taken away too, and with starting pay LESS per year than an ambulance driver, with your company millions in profit thatbtehu promised they would share but haven't, - the union will vote for strike. But please bear in mind the pilots don't choose when the strike happens - the Union decides everything, and often without a vote.

Where are you going and how long for? Have you looked at rerouting options?

I was caught up in a previous BA strike several years ago. I telephoned and they changed my flight to an affiliate airline from a different U.K. airport in advance, for free. (I was lucky though that it wasn't school holidays.) Has the strike been confirmed? Have you actually tried calling the airline?

Don't plan to go anywhere in winter, if it snows you could be stuck for days!

No thanks. They could make their point when those of us stuck with school holidays, children and premium prices aren’t travelling. They know bosses won’t want to upset families so that’s why they’re doing it now. Really nasty. I thus have zero sympathy.

The mark of a good boss / manager is keeping workers engaged and motivated. The blame lies with management, not those scraping a living.

Your anger is misplaced.

The workers have families too. The bosses don't give a shit about families or they wouldn't pay shit wages.

Have you looked at rerouting?

Sorry was just trying to be helpful

Yes some things are more important. We’ve had a shitty shitty year and are getting married. We worked hard and saved up. Can’t try and change as they’re all at it so who knows if any other airport or date will be better.

It’s possible to be pissed off AND sympathetic to the cause at the same time OP.

Mountain that wasn’t to you.

Cornwall is lovely this time of year...

So we're in agreement, people's livelihoods are more important than holidays.

Unless you're going to somewhere obscure there will always be rerouting options. How long are you away for?

Pilots, engineers and air traffic aren’t paid peanuts. It would be perfectly possible to make a point in other ways but they don’t give a shit.

Several weeks. How do you reroute if the whole airport is shut down for several dates with no details?

The strike would be planned for maximum impact. How else should it be planned? I also think you could direct your anger towards the management who have caused this.

People travel for all sorts of reasons, life events can be more important than livelihoods particularly when it is possible to make a point in other ways at other times.

This is airport staff. They are paid peanuts.

If you're away for several weeks then you either move the flight a day or you fly from another airport. Are you going to New York? If so there are countless options.

No won’t be directing my anger at management, they’re not deciding to do this at this time.

You're seriously suggesting your wedding is more important than people earning a living wage?

So how should they make their point in other ways at other times then?

I can’t move the flight as I’m working and can’t afford to change it. We also have things booked. Also who knows what else they’ll decide to do- Stanstead and Gatwick are potentially having action too. It’s ridiculous.

Where does it say the entire airport will be shut down? The news article I posted states that Heathrow have said they have contingency plans so that all flights could take off and land with the minimal disruption possible.

The minimum-wage workers of Heathrow also work hard but can’t afford to save / go on holiday / get married as their bosses don’t pay them enough to live on.

You have no sympathy for them, but expect people to have sympathy for your relatively privileged position?

Yes people with children matter but fuck anyone else travelling, let them strike then instead. Shorty attitude op.

the airport said its contingency plans would ensure flights could still take off and land during one of the busiest period of the year.
"We will be working alongside our airline partners to minimise disruption caused to passengers as they look towards their well-deserved summer holidays," it said.

I get that you're concerned about potential disruption but I think you're being rather dramatic considering what the airport are actually saying.