Airport personnel strike VCE on date of travel
Jul 24, 2019, 2:24 am
#1
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Airport personnel strike VCE on date of travel
We are scheduled to leave VCE on UA flight to EWR on 7/26, a scheduled strike day for airport personnel (hotel told us air traffic control is affected, for ex). I’ve sent a DM to UA but haven’t heard back yet. Hotel seems concerned for us, which makes me slightly anxious. CSR travel protection isn’t going to cover it if we are delayed bc of a strike.
Jul 24, 2019, 4:41 am
#2
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so far no travel waiver has posted, just for a strike in London. Unless there is a waiver UA will unlikely re-book for free. Watch the inbound flight and waivers to be published, this is IMO the best you can do. Often these strikes just lead to a slowdown but not anything more serious.
Jul 24, 2019, 5:47 am
#3
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so far no travel waiver has posted, just for a strike in London. Unless there is a waiver UA will unlikely re-book for free. Watch the inbound flight and waivers to be published, this is IMO the best you can do. Often these strikes just lead to a slowdown but not anything more serious.
Jul 24, 2019, 7:29 am
#4
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For the former point, no, United probably wouldn't rebook for free because getting to the gate on time is your responsibility. However, if you miss the flight because of security, you can still request to be rebooked for free due to circumstances beyond your control (e.g. waiting in a security line for 3+ hours due to the strike).
For the latter point, United would be obliged to rebook or refund your tickets because they can't fulfill their responsibility to provide the transportation you paid for.
Please call United and explain the situation. Even though a waiver hasn't been issued yet, and they aren't obligated to rebook your group, you might get an agent who is willing to help. And, as cfischer said, please use Flight Status on the United website or app to watch the inbound flight to Venice. If the flight is canceled or delayed, you'll have early notice. You can use that information when you call United again to get your group reaccommodated on another flight.
Good luck!
Jul 24, 2019, 7:35 am
#5
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This is exactly the situation where one picks up the phone and calls UA. Using email and social media to conduct one-sided conversations is unhelpful in the extreme. It may take a second-tier supervisor to deal with this, so do this when you have downtime and a phone you can put on speaker/mute while you do something productive on hold.
Carriers very often wait to see what happens as many threatened labor actions resolve themselves at the last minute.
As a reminder, make certain that you have done and have in hand the research with the reroute you seek in hand. Calling in the abstract rarely results in a happy result.
Carriers very often wait to see what happens as many threatened labor actions resolve themselves at the last minute.
As a reminder, make certain that you have done and have in hand the research with the reroute you seek in hand. Calling in the abstract rarely results in a happy result.
Jul 24, 2019, 8:11 am
#7
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We are on award tix x5....I have no UA status.
And yes call UA.
Jul 24, 2019, 9:03 am
#8
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Okay. You guys are great! Thank you. They replied to DM saying they’d contact me if any change to flight. I’ll call tomorrow late afternoon to establish backup plan. Inbound doesn’t take off till like 1 AM our time so that might be hard to monitor. But it’s from EWR, so likely fine. We will be there two hours ahead. If Hotel says definite problem we will go earlier.
Ha! Yes 5x. Though I was originally booked on AC metal. UA rebooked us via EWR on their own metal bc of flight change requiring overnight connection in YYZ.
Ha! Yes 5x. Though I was originally booked on AC metal. UA rebooked us via EWR on their own metal bc of flight change requiring overnight connection in YYZ.
Jul 24, 2019, 9:33 am
#9
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I'm not sure what the other options might be if it is essentially a shutdown of VCE. Honestly, you'll probably be in better shape on the non-stop from VCE-EWR than trying to get on a connection (e.g. VCE-FRA-EWR) as those intra-europe flights are probably going to be affected as well by the general airport strike. I guess you could take the train somewhere to connect, but that will be a much more complicated change.
Jul 24, 2019, 9:37 am
#10
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It's a nationwide strike from 10h to 14h. It's not a full-blown work stoppage, but most likely a work slowdown (e.g. the court will set a minimum service of 10% and 10% of workers will keep working). The Airport site has a notice about this posted.
Chances are - your flight will get delayed.
Chances are - your flight will get delayed.
Jul 25, 2019, 12:57 am
#11
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UA sent email out re strike and said our flight will NOT be affected. So that’s good. I’m now wondering if we need to arrive earlier than 9 for the 11 flight in the event of serious slowdown. Some sites say 10-2 but others say some personnel will be striking for 24 hours.
In in any case, I appreciate all the replies and advice. This trip has been one minor crisis after the other so getting home as scheduled will keep us sane!
In in any case, I appreciate all the replies and advice. This trip has been one minor crisis after the other so getting home as scheduled will keep us sane!
Last edited by Stgermainparis; Jul 25, 2019 at 1:04 am
Jul 25, 2019, 8:09 am
#13
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Jul 25, 2019, 8:52 am
#14
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What, really, do you have to lose from getting there a bit early? While UA intends to operate the flight, that still doesn't mean that the Italian TSA, etc. won't be slow. And if they are especially slow, UA may not hold the plane for you. Even on normal days at normal airports, it has sometimes taken me close to 1.5 hours to get to the gate -- and you are likely checking bags and trying to shepherd 5 people through all of this. Given that the expected situation at VCE is uncertain, get some extra piece of mind by arriving earlier than the standard 2-hour specification. As noted, if you miss the flight, rebooking 5 people back to EWR will be difficult.
Jul 25, 2019, 9:44 am
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What, really, do you have to lose from getting there a bit early? While UA intends to operate the flight, that still doesn't mean that the Italian TSA, etc. won't be slow. And if they are especially slow, UA may not hold the plane for you. Even on normal days at normal airports, it has sometimes taken me close to 1.5 hours to get to the gate -- and you are likely checking bags and trying to shepherd 5 people through all of this. Given that the expected situation at VCE is uncertain, get some extra piece of mind by arriving earlier than the standard 2-hour specification. As noted, if you miss the flight, rebooking 5 people back to EWR will be difficult.