STEFAN PAHNER,
Sir, - Aer Lingus management's and pilots' handling of their conflict is an excellent example of risking the financial ruin of a company at the expense of staff and customers.
While I am sympathetic to the management's efforts to cut costs and make Aer Lingus profitable, I feel its handling of the crisis is a sign of miserable management and hardly more progressive and inventive than 19th century methods.
Equally, the pilots' abuse of their monopolistic power did not contribute to a solution.
The problem has been known to both parties for months; apparently the mediation process involving an independent consultant completely failed to bring together the parties concerned and no determined efforts were taken thereafter to solve the conflict. A lack of serious commitment to finding a compromise agreement, and poor communication skills on both sides seem to be the key flaws in the approach to the conflict.
The company's shut-down of all services and the explanations it offered did little to make the onlooker sympathetic to its cause. On the contrary, it showed their disrespect for customers and hardly differed from the traveller's treatment by low-budget airlines. Once again, it was the customer who had to pay the price of management's poor handling of a crisis.
It was simply unacceptable that local travel agents had to cope with the consequences of Aer Lingus's poor conflict management; it should have been Aer Lingus that provided its clients with alternative travelling arrangements.
Finally, how can one interpret the fact that Aer Lingus could so easily afford a daily loss of €2 million?
Although the cancellation of weekend flights meant a five-day delay of my departure, and the re-scheduling of a week's appointments abroad, I will be able to live with these changes; others may be less fortunate. However, to avoid further embarrassment, I will fly Lufthansa this time, and may use other carriers in future. Thank you, Aer Lingus! - Yours, etc.,
STEFAN PAHNER,
Carrigart,
Co Donegal.
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Sir, - Regarding Padraig Yeates's report on the Aer Lingus strike, I would like to add how disappointed I am in Aer Lingus. I have been a loyal customer for many years and when travelling home to Ireland always try to choose them over other, often less expensive, airlines.
Like many thousands of people, two of my brothers have been stranded in Dublin since Saturday and one of them only managed to get a flight back to the US by taking the boat and train to London and a flight from Gatwick.
He is in jeopardy of losing his job as a result because the company he works for did not look kindly on him taking extra time out of the office. At the very least, he will lose several days' pay. The return flight I helped him find on Wednesday (after three days of constant phone calls) would have cost over $1,000 one-way if not for the help of a third party.
Aer Lingus have done nothing to help us sort this out and the promise of a refund on half my brothers' round-trip tickets does nothing to compensate for the stress, aggravation and cost they have both had to incur.
My heart went out to Aer Lingus last year and earlier this year when it was struggling financially. I dreaded the thought that we could lose such a wonderful airline and I cannot believe anyone would jeopardise its standing by going on strike at this time. I cannot imagine the company surviving after this.
Sadly, even if it does, unless the airline can take better care of people like my brothers I will probably never fly Aer Lingus again. - Yours, etc.,
FIONA McKINNEY,
New York,
USA.