Yes, it looks like things will be back to normal soon. NORMAL - FINANCIALLY TROUBLED. The strike is aobut the rescue plan! This sounds like a repeat of Swiss Air and Sabena. Rescue plans that failed. I would still be cauticious about booking on EI. My Irish T/A is not booking people on EI.

I was in the Aer Lingus lounge in Dublin this afternoon - operatins recommenced at 1:00pm.

All USA operations will operate on Wednesday except for the LAX flight. That will operate as normal on Thursday according to the EI website.

I did speak with my friend in Dublin, and it sounded the whole Aer Lingus strike was really a big thing. There were a bunch of unhappy customers and all the stuff. Hopefully it won't be another version shortly...

The strike maybe over, but the financial problems for EI remain...

[This message has been edited by beepee (edited 06-05-2002).]

Amex offers use of Membership rewards points for a reduced fare tickets on Aer lingus.

Checkout the air partners info at the Amex website. I was thinking they were not too bad of a deal for travel to Ireland.

edited to add: Welcome to FlyerTalk!

[This message has been edited by Sweet Willie (edited 06-05-2002).]

Apparently, Father Malloy, President of my alma mata (Notre Dame)and his posse were stranded in Ireland after a fundraising junket due to the Aer Lingus strike. Even worse (and more interesting), the idiot Notre Dame travel agency (Anthony Travel) rebooked the group on Ryanair to Stanstead with a connection to LHR. I can just picture five priests and several wealthy benefactors traveling that route. Had I been in charge, the routing would have been much better.

I wonder whether they flew on the same day as two of my friends ? Tuesday Stanstead shut down due to weather, and flights were being diverted to brimingham. So you can add another two hour bus ride to that ...

Whilst talk of Aer Lingus demise is a little premature, it is in financial difficulties. According to the BBC they are losing GBP2 million a day.

I very much doubt that the Irish government would let them collapse - but we rather thought that about Swissair and Sabena. Ryanair has snapped Aer Lingus hard in many markets particularly between Ireland and the UK.

I strongly suspect that you will have little difficulty with Aer Lingus - strikes apart.

As for the re-routing via Ryaniar, I fear that the Notre Dame agency probably had little choice unless they routed them via another hub like Paris or Amsterdam. Most flights into the UK were absolutely solid months ago due to the extra long holiday which ended on Tuesday. BD were full before this happened and Ryanair ran 12 extra flights showing a flexibility that has provoked a good deal of comment here.

It is not about Ireland, it is about the EU. The EU wants airlines to merge, and is against gov support. While the Irish gov could figure out how to put some money into the airlines, the times have changed and EI may well not be the same airlines we know them as today. Just like the former Sabena (not sure what their name is now.)