Virgin has just announced the results from the ballot for strike action.
Two strikes will go ahead in January
Wed 9th January from 06.00 for 48 hours and Wed 16th January from 06.00 for 48 hours.
I'm sure Virgin will do what they can to get passengers to their destinations but it's gonna be tough
This give a bit more detail...................
Virgin Atlantic cabin crew voted today in favour of strike action in January only a day before the results of a strike vote by 5,000 UK airport staff, which could result in flight delays and cancellations from December 27.
About a third of Virgin Atlantic's cabin crew will participate in two 48-hour strikes on January 9-10 and January 16-17.
The airline has announced that it will cancel 12 flights as a result of the action. The flights are between London and New York, Chicago, Nairobi and Boston (see below for a full list).
Virgin has advised customers with bookings over the affected period to check the carrier's website for updates.
Steve Ridgway, the Virgin Atlantic chief executive, said: "We would like to reassure passengers that our flying programme is operating as normal at this time, and will continue to do so over the Christmas and new year period.
"We are disappointed that some of our cabin crew have voted this way but we will do everything we can to get our passengers to their destinations during the threatened industrial action."
He wrote to me personally (probably along with about a million other people) -
As you may have heard, some of our cabin crew members have voted for industrial action in January despite their union, Unite, strongly endorsing our recent pay offer.
Our main priority now is to ensure that we can still get our passengers to their destination as scheduled. We don't want to let anyone down so have put in place thorough contingency plans, enabling us to run nine out of ten flights on each of the days affected by the action.
Currently, only the flights below will be affected:
Departing from the UK:
Flight No. Departure Date From To
VS25 9, 10, 16, 17 January 2008 London Heathrow New York (JFK)
VS39 9, 10, 16, 17 January 2008 London Heathrow Chicago
VS11 9, 10 January 2008 London Heathrow Boston
VS671 16, 17 January 2008 London Heathrow Nairobi
Departing from outside the UK:
Flight No. Departure Date From To
VS26 10, 11, 17, 18 January 2008 New York (JFK) London Heathrow
VS40 9, 10, 16, 17 January 2008 Chicago London Heathrow
VS12 9, 10 January 2008 Boston London Heathrow
VS672 16, 17 January 2008 Nairobi London Heathrow
If you are booked on a flight listed above, you will be rebooked on an alternative flight. Please visit our website for details.
If your flight is not listed, we intend to operate it as normal and get you to your destination, so please check in and enjoy your journey as usual.
I would like to apologise to our passengers whose travel plans may be affected, and reassure all those who are travelling with us that our number one priority is to get you to your destination on time.
Babblin Boo
Yes me too I got this last night[msnwink]
Ooooh I got it too!!![msnwink]
They sound very prepared and organised, let's hope so
If it all goes without a hitch it won't have done the crews many favours as whats the point in striking if there's no disruptions.
Well it is nice that Virgin bothered to contact you, Steph. BA simply cancelled our return flight and didn't bother to tell us, and absolutely no apologies or help whatsoever!
ellie
And we should be home by then Ellie, we're due to fly home on 2nd, of course if there are any deals we could be persuaded to stay a bit longer,
Babblin Boo
I think Virgin deserve some credit for this because these cancellations aren't their fault on this occasion. On the other hand, BA's cancellations are as a result of their own decision and they don't seem to have bothered even telling their customers.
Not quite sure that the Virgin cabin crew would agree with you about it not being Virgins fault. BA have cancelled 21 long haul flights from Gatwick during the second part of January due to crew shortage, they are at last looking ahead and sorting out a problem that someone in crew planning is guilty of not acting early enough to resolve. I know it is a strange system, but normally when you book through an agent, as Ellie did, the airline inform them of changes and not necessarily the passenger direct. Opodo should have informed her and maybe would have done, if she had not learnt about the cancellation first on this site.
Shirley
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