Real-life MMD: Holiday nightmare - should we forgo £6,000 or pay £1,000 more?

oldtrout

Saetana wrote: »

Oh please, this is not a dilemma - but it does remind me why I find trade unionists incredibly irritating and why I regret the one time I joined one. Its YOUR problem and not that of the travel agency, I assume they only informed you in the first place because of possible delays on that part of the trip - it is not down to them because you refuse to cross a picket line for an unknown company in another blooming country during a dispute you know nothing about. Either pay the extra or cancel, I honestly don't care either way.

MSE - these so-called moral dilemmas are getting ridiculous, if you haven't got a good one that people can relate to then give it a miss that week, they have been going from the ridiculous to the sublime lately

Agree. As I've said before, the MMDs recently are quite pathetic and totally ridiculous. Surely someone at MSE is making them up? .. if not, to this OP I would say, 'GET A LIFE'.

If you have that much money to spend on a holiday, and you are asking people on here for advice, then you are having a laugh! For Christ's sake, £12K is an annual salary for some people so how the hell do you expect them to know what you should do?

latinaid

[QUOTE=If_you_have_that_much_money_to_spend_on_a_holiday,_and_you_are_asking_people_on_here_for_advice,_then_you_are_having_a_laugh!__For_Christ's_sake,_£12K_is_an_annual_salary_for_some_people_so_how_the_hell_do_you_expect_them_to_know_what_you_should_do?[/QUOTE]

Why shouldn't the OP spend £12k on a holiday if they want to? How do you know how long it has taken them to save for this holiday of a lifetime? How do you know what money-saving strategies they've put in place to be able to take this holiday? Maybe they haven't had a holiday for the last 20 years, putting aside what they would have spent on cheaper holidays to save for this one.

Speaking an a leftie unionist myself, I would say - find out what the dispute is about, and contact the striking union in advance to explain your situation - I'm sure they would prefer that you 'crossed the picket line' (I don't believe you're doing this really, unless they are actually asking customers not to travel?) and donated to their strike fund.

System

oldtrout wrote: »

Agree. As I've said before, the MMDs recently are quite pathetic and totally ridiculous. Surely someone at MSE is making them up? .. if not, to this OP I would say, 'GET A LIFE'.

If you have that much money to spend on a holiday, and you are asking people on here for advice, then you are having a laugh! For Christ's sake, £12K is an annual salary for some people so how the hell do you expect them to know what you should do?

Not keen on the language but the sentiment is spot on. Get over yourself, go on holiday, enjoy it and stop bothering people who have real financial problems with your silly 'dilemma'.

SGE1

God, some of you are unpleasant aren't you. Are you pathologically unable to experience empathy? Or just bitter at the thought of someone other than you taking a nice holiday? Either way, why some of you post your bile here is mystery.

Turning to the actual question, if crossing the picket makes you uncomfortable, you should re-arrange your holiday, in my view.

Edwardia

MSE_Debs wrote: »

Money Moral Dilemma: Holiday nightmare - should we forgo £6,000 or pay £1,000 more?

We recently paid £12,000 for a "holiday of a lifetime", which includes a Rocky Mountains train ride. AFTER paying, the company told us we'd need to cross picket lines. As trade unionists, we refuse to do this. We want to cancel but the firm says we'll lose half our cash. The alternative's paying £945 to rearrange our trip. Should we cancel and lose £6,000, or pay the extra and travel with a company that has deceived us ?

Is this real ?

OMG what a dilemma, you've forked out £12k for a HOLIDAY in a recession.. why not just go to Butlins and give the other £11,500 to your trade union brothers ??

The company hasn't deceived you, it was up to you to tell them about your personal beliefs re: picket lines before booking so that they were better able to accommodate your wishes.

These MMDs get more and more stupid, frankly.

shehen23

Haha, I had to laugh at this one! Talk about karma! How many holidays have been ruined by selfish strikers over the years? I'm quite sure that, occasionally, there are genuine reasons for causing huge disruption and damaging livelihoods by striking but frequently strikes are called for fairly trivial reasons. Unless you are involved in this dispute, which you clearly aren't, you have no idea of what is really going on. To make a snap decision on who (if anyone) is in the right based on the fact you belong to the same 'club', and then be willing to give up your 'holiday of a lifetime' as a result demonstrates simple financial wastefulness.
On the subject of whether you should pay the extra money on top, that depends on a lot of factors which comes down to - Should the Travel company be expected to know beforehand whether this fee was payable? Without more facts it's impossible to say, but if they did know, then as organisers of the trip they should have informed you and you may have a claim but if they didn't become aware of this fee until after you booked then you'll just have to swallow it. Frankly either way my sympathy level is pretty low as you clearly, as others have said, have more money than sense

jane_smith

No one is at fault here, this isn't something a travel company would be expected to mention.

What you're really asking is whether you want to pay £945 and have holiday whilst still supporting your union beliefs or pay £6000, give up the holiday and play the martyr (and that is what you're doing) whilst also supporting union beliefs - let's face it, the travel company a) don't care and b)won't change just because you stand up and say I'm fab, look at the £6000 I gave up because they don't believe what I do.

Your whole point is that you don't want to cross a picket and good on you for sticking with what you believe. You can do this for £945, costly but that's the price for making sure you ask next time. Or you can have a sob story and no holiday for a cost of £6000.

geri1965_2

SueC wrote: »

If everyone's in it together, why don't we just have The Union?

Been tried before

adouglasmhor

geri1965 wrote: »

Been tried before

The wobblies were very interesting, Helen Keller and James Connolly were both members.

duchy

Simple ...the cost of making a moral stand is £450 pp either your political beliefs are worth that to you ...or they aren't.

Another vote for ending MMD -They are getting weaker and sillier.