ON Monday, there will be no Aer Lingus flights to Copenhagen, Milan, Manchester or Birmingham. "It is no coincidence," says a spokesman, "that the places we are leaving without service are places where people have an alternative".

Mr David Bunworth, director of sales and marketing, has written to all the company's most important customers. "Should we be unable to provide full inflight service to our usual standard," he says, "we will automatically credit your account with triple TAB (frequent flier) points. In addition, passengers travelling with Premier/Premier Europe tickets will receive a further 500 bonus points."

The Premier service on the transatlantic is being suspended for the duration. So are all domestic flights between Dublin, Cork, Sligo and Farranfore.

Mr David Courtney, sales and marketing manager - Ireland, is in charge of daily liaison with the State's travel agents, who account for between 60 and 70 per cent of the airline's bookings. Mr Courtney outlined the situation as it appeared on Wednesday.

"Strike notice served by IALPA (Irish Air Line Pilots' Association) expires at midnight on Sunday, September 22nd, and, while my hope is that a strike can be avoided, I realise you need information today to enable you to respond to your customers' queries."

He then described the measures Aer Lingus would take:

. the hiring in of aircraft strictly in line with Aer Lingus' standard criteria;

. priority for the routes Shannon/Dublin to New York/Boston/Chicago; Dublin/Cork/Shannon to London Heathrow; Dublin to Brussels/Amsterdam/Frankfurt/Paris/ Dusseldorf; Dublin to Edinburgh/Bristol;

. near full capacity on Dublin to London Heathrow/New York/Paris/Amsterdam and Brussels.

Mr Courtney told the agents they might offer customers who plan to travel between September 23rd-27th the following options: postpone travel plans at no penalty, travel on another airline subject to space available (such re-accommodation can only be organised by Aer Lingus on the day of travel) or receive a full refund.

Mr Eugene Magee, a Dublin-based travel agent with a large corporate client list, was advising that all discretionary travel should be put on hold. The second piece of advice was to book an alternative.

But where is this alternative to, come from Mr Magee said that major European airlines like Lufthansa, Iberia and Air Inter could not simply conjure aircraft out of the skies to increase their capacity on their Irish routes. Airline brokers have aircraft on their books who operate on the same basis as tramp steamers, according to Mr Magee. Aer Lingus insists that any aircraft carrying its passengers would be in strict accordance with the high standards of comfort and safety demanded by Aer Lingus".

However, there will only be economy class available on all such flights, Aer Lingus concedes.

MR P. J. Brennan, president of the Irish Travel Agents' Association, advised intending passengers to "keep in touch with the news". Aer Lingus, he said, was managing the contingency plan very efficiently. "They will have about 80 per cent capacity on London. This is shoulder season and 80 per cent should be about enough," according to Mr Brennan.

He rejected a suggestion by pilots that Aer Lingus would be hiring in "flying fleapits". Mr Brennan said Aer Lingus prided itself on having a quality product. "I would be astonished if they let those standards slip."

Ms Sharon Ryan, of Cityjet, said it had had a 10 to 15 per cent increase in advance bookings since news broke of the impending strike. Some travellers believed they could take out an insurance policy by double-booking. That won't work, said Ms Ryan. Flights must be paid for in full, a policy Cityjet was implementing very strictly with the travel trade.

Tour operators have been reassuring clients that they need not worry about flying with Aer Lingus to Corfu or the Canaries this weekend and being stuck there indefinitely. "One way or another, Aer Lingus will get them back," said one travel agent.