BAA strike

vermont100

chesterfield wrote: »

I can see your point, but why strike about something that may not happen, now? Why not strike when and indeed IF, it happens?

What guarantees have you that the company will not be sold, with mass redundancies taking place before the 6 years that BAA have promised. What guarantees are there that keeping the FS scheme in place now and giving "guarantees" that it will never be touched will result in a viable scheme for many years to come - it could go belly up like many other schemes have and will.

Perhaps they are offering a dispensation that it will not be touched for 10 years, as they can only "guarantee" the financial security of the scheme ofr that long. How long can you "guarantee" you will be able to afford the rent/mortgage etc?

Unfortunately there are no "guarantees" in life, nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, and the best we can do is try and forecast as best we can with the figures we have in front of us today. For BAA to offer 10 years security on a FS pension scheme, would appear on the face of it quite generous. I would be surprised to see such commitments from any other company in todays financial climate.

i agree with you this is a generous offer and im expecting that this will probably be the deal that ends the dispute whether there is a slight upping of the 10yrs remains to be seen. there are no guarantees the company will not be sold but its more likely the company will be split ......... selling gatwick or stansted for example. everyone knows there are no guarantees in life...... the new money purchase scheme that baa wants to introduce is like an endowment mortgage ...... your not really sure what your going to end up with. fs scheme is like a repayment your sure what your getting. its not hard to see why i prefer the latter.

vermont100

Keek62 wrote: »

I will spend the next couple of weeks in a state of some anxiety over this issue. I've not had a holiday in 20 years nor do I have any pension ... so I'm afraid I don't have sympathy with BAA staff at all, they have a lot more than I do.

My problem - not being a seasoned traveller obviously - is that I have a once in a lifetime chance of a trip to stay with friends in Japan.. they have gone to considerable effort and expense to help me organise this. I must fly from Edinburgh to Schiphol to get a connecting flight on the 15th. I no longer know what to do and I daren't miss my flight in Schiphol.. I would be devastated as I will lose my money and never be able to afford it again. If I knew for certain that the Edinburgh flight will not happen then I could at least try and figure out some way of walking across the North Sea some days in advance in order to be there in time. I just need enough information and time to try and raise the cash to get to Schiphol via another route. I just don't know what route to take.. ferry? Any advice would be appreciated.

can undestand you not having sympathy however why tell us you have not got a pension? its like someone who doesnt buy a house complaining they have to pay rent for the rest of their lives.

vermont100

poppyolivia wrote: »

so what are the chances of it happening? Is it almost most likely rather than not or is it 50/50?...is there a ray of hope?..are the 3 strike dates defo the dates or can they change ie we are flying on the 13th can that be changed instead of the 14th?

my opinion is that there is only a small chance the strike will happen. its mainly going to be a case of how much face each side is prepared to make. management will not back down totally but everyone knows the airports will not be allowed to close

Keek62

chesterfield wrote: »

If this really is a once in a lifetime chance, I would be planning a contingency now. Be that a bus ride and a few trains to get you to Europe if needs be. Or a trian to Manchester and a flight from there.

Thanks for this. I'd started to look at National Express buses until I read the post below!

Keek62

qwerty123456 wrote: »

If you have a through ticket Edinburgh-Amsterdam-Tokyo the you will certainly not just be able to turn up at Amsterdam and expect them to take you on the flight. That is called using tickets out of sequence and airlines do not allow it. You see if you had bought a ticket Amsterdam-Tokyo instead of Edinburgh-Amsterdam-Tokyo then it would have cost an awful lot more. You get a discount for the inconvenience of having to connect at Amsterdam.

Here's a contingency for you....When the strike is fully confirmed and KLM put a policy into place for rebooking passengers that are affected by the BAA strikes, rebook your Edinburgh-Amsterdam sector for before the strike dates and stay in Amsterdam until your next fligh takes off. Alternatively you could rebook the entire EDI-AMS-NRT for after the strike. Remember you will only be able to do this when the airlines are sure that a strike will go ahead and they will do it for you free of charge.

Oh... poop! Well, that certainly negates the 'get a bus' plan I was looking at. I am most grateful that you pointed this out. I had looked to see if there were any flights in the days prior to the 14th/15th but all I could see were Business class flights at an extremely huge price. Unless KLM behave like bus companies and put on extra flights then I don't know what to do next. However, I have now emailed KLM for advice. Don't expect I'll hear anything until after Christmas but it looks like it is the best I can do. I desperately want to make the Schiphol to Tokyo leg of the journey on schedule as my friends at that end have taken special leave (they are in the military) and have booked hotel rooms to fit in with my flight arrival already. I'd feel like a pile of crap if I mucked them about now.

And here last week all I thought I had to worry about was how to find my way around an airport and not get on the wrong plane or something!

Keek62

vermont100 wrote: »

can undestand you not having sympathy however why tell us you have not got a pension? its like someone who doesnt buy a house complaining they have to pay rent for the rest of their lives.

I didn't mean to sound as though I was complaining. I'm not. I don't have one, never will probably. My kids are my pension! I had been reading the early posts in the thread and was left with the impression, perhaps erroneously, that some posters were implying that many people who went on holiday were rich and selfish.

I meant to point out that not everybody is well off enough to be able to afford a pension and that BAA staff are therefore pretty lucky in comparison to many working people. My apologies again for lack of clarity.

vermont100

Keek62 wrote: »

I didn't mean to sound as though I was complaining. I'm not. I don't have one, never will probably. My kids are my pension! I had been reading the early posts in the thread and was left with the impression, perhaps erroneously, that some posters were implying that many people who went on holiday were rich and selfish.

I meant to point out that not everybody is well off enough to be able to afford a pension and that BAA staff are therefore pretty lucky in comparison to many working people. My apologies again for lack of clarity.

yes some of those early posts didnt make alot of sense

chesterfield

vermont100 wrote: »

i agree with you this is a generous offer and im expecting that this will probably be the deal that ends the dispute whether there is a slight upping of the 10yrs remains to be seen. there are no guarantees the company will not be sold but its more likely the company will be split ......... selling gatwick or stansted for example. everyone knows there are no guarantees in life...... the new money purchase scheme that baa wants to introduce is like an endowment mortgage ...... your not really sure what your going to end up with. fs scheme is like a repayment your sure what your getting. its not hard to see why i prefer the latter.

I understand entirely why you would preffer the FS scheme to any other, indeed why any existing member of the FS scheme would be up in arms about it being taken away.

Its the fact that it isnt being taken away, yet they are still striking (or at least voting for it) that confuses me. Its as though the strike has been called purely because this "could" be the first step to erroding the scheme alltogether.

I fail to see exactly what the Unions think they will gain by even calling for such action, the public arent generally supportive at all, and when those members of the public who may be sitting on the fence learn that the proposed changes arent even affecting current members that have voted to strike, the public support dwindles even further.

It certainly will be interesting to see what happens nearer to strike days, and if an agreement is reached, exactly how Unite will sell anything other than a full backing down by BAA, as a succesfull outcome to its members.

Or indeed how BAA will be able to improve on their offer already, given that there are very little financial certainties that would allow them to guarantee any form of FS for longer than they already have.

The unfortunates will of course be the people caught up in the middle, the passengers.

Happy Christmas and a great New Year for all - lets hope the situation is resolved before anyone misses their once in a life time trips, or journeys to be with loved ones.

littlemiss79_2

I'm sorry people have to loose their holiday - but they need to stop being so selfish - there are more important things at play here than their reschedulable holiday.[/

'Stop being so selfish' the pension only affects new employees coming in not the ones that are there already. I have our holiday booked to fly out on the 14th to cuba we are also getting married there. If anyone is being selfish you are i can honestly say i couldn't give 2 hoots about your bloomin pension!!!!! i'm bothered about a wedding we've planned all year, and my 22 month old son who i'm nervous about flying with anyway, i do hope you had a nice christmas!!! because mine has been spoilt by worrying all the way through whether our holiday will go ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

poppyolivia

littlemiss79 wrote: »

I'm sorry people have to loose their holiday - but they need to stop being so selfish - there are more important things at play here than their reschedulable holiday.[/

'Stop being so selfish' the pension only affects new employees coming in not the ones that are there already. I have our holiday booked to fly out on the 14th to cuba we are also getting married there. If anyone is being selfish you are i can honestly say i couldn't give 2 hoots about your bloomin pension!!!!! i'm bothered about a wedding we've planned all year, and my 22 month old son who i'm nervous about flying with anyway, i do hope you had a nice christmas!!! because mine has been spoilt by worrying all the way through whether our holiday will go ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

EXACTLY!!!!

My sister phoned Air France because shes leaving a day after us (14th) and shes flying to charles de gualle, the guy said not to cancel as it will work out and they will pay for any hotels other flights etc and the last thing she should do is cancel. The bloke also said it happens all the time and they laugh about it as people phone all the time panicking and they are so organised he wonders what the fuss is about???? I think he said this in away that made my sister feel ALOT better...not a 'know it all' way! She came of the phone feeling brilliant!
All these twits that come on here saying oh the customer is selfish....how in the name of God do you break it to a 2 year old and a 7 year old that we aren't going to see Minnie Mouse anymore cause they are worried about their pension...get a grip folks the customers save all year round for their holiday and if it wasn't for us customers you wouldn't have a job...so get of your lazy !!!!!! and do your jobs!!!!!!
By the way people with kids and pregnant people get priority...so the chap said!

Good luck with your wedding and hope you will have a great time xxxx