Those wonderful people at Silversea!

Well, as I understand it 125 people have booked to fly BA to join Whisper on 30th August ex Heathrow via BA. This is the major Bank Holiday weekend in the UK and the busiest time for BA during the year. However, BA checkin and baggage staff are more than likely going to be on strike that day. This is also the morning after the close of the Olympic Games so things are going to be particularly fraught and busy and chaotic at the other end at Athens.

There are three BA flights going to Athens on the 30th, and just one Olympic Airlines flight that has any chance of meeting the cruise. There's a cruise day the following day so Whisper probably hasn't got much flex to wait around.

So any passengers booked on BA and contemplating using the OA flight will find themseves fighting at the last moment for a very very limited number of seats - probaly zero seats on the OA flight. The time gap adds 2 hours onto a four flight to Athens, the new airport built for the Olympics is around a further hour away than the old Airport from Whisper and the queue for taxis at Athens is often several hours long. And this is the day after the closing ceremony at the Olympics - so I guess you should take a tent. You can't plan in advance because BA m,anagement will say that they are going to check people in and manage baggage and that people should turn up normally. Then they will tell them after they have arrived that their flight is cancelled.

At the moment the Olympic flight has space on it. But the moment the strike is announced they will freeze the availability on OA and only accept full price cross-charge tickets from BA - which none of Silversea clients have.

So if you were Silversea what would you do?

For those people that have a complete package ie from what Silversea say the125 people my ta has been told about - if they don't get there then Silversea have a boat that's a bit on the empty side and they have to make full refunds of a few thousand dollars each. Whisper is nbeing used at Athens for the previous week so every suite is a "fresh sheets" deal. So what options do they have?

OA have currently space on the single flight that will might get all or most SS passengers there - if booked now. Even Jo Public can purchase virtually fully refundable tickets that are roughly the same price that SS paid for the BA tickets. In the case of a "no show" there's a refund fee of 30 euros per ticket. So the 30 euros would be the insurance premium for SS to ensure getting the customers to Athens and insutring against 125 full refunds and the loss of goodwill that will involve.

You'd think they'd book all spaces available and risk the 30 euros per ticket to avoid the potentil of repaying the whole cruise price wouldn't you.

Nope.

They are going to wait to see if the strike happens and then try and get their passsnegers out some other way. Very astute.

BA have made offers to the unions which have been rejected. BA have offered binding arbitration which has also been rejected by the unions. The unions need a battle ground to show that they are in control of things. This battle ground is as good as any and there is more than likely going to be chaos again at LHR over this banks holiday / olympics weekend.

What on earth are SS playing it.

I have two tickets that I bought on that OA flight. I bought it the moment that the strike looked probable. BA staff stiked last year. It was an illegal wildcat strike so I guess that there is an almost certain strike this year.

I've asked SS to consider booking all their passengers on the alternative flight as it makes very sensible economic sense. The office in Fort Lauderdale knew nothing about it. The office in London were not going to do anything about it.

I've bought seats on the OA flight for Mrs UK1 and I. But we will not make the cruise if we're not met. I asked SS if I managed to get to Athens could they meet us. They don't think so.

I think they should ask themselves whether they have management up to this job!

While on board the Silver Whisper in April/May we saw the deeply discounted price of this cruise. While the price point made the cruise very tempting we recognized the dates (Olympics) and knew that airline/airport congestion had to be the reason for the deep discount. It's my assumption that the money saved would have to compensate for the frustrations leading up to getting on board.

Cathy K.

Thanks for your interest Cathy - but I'm not certain that's right at all.

There's a brand new £1.6m airport at Athens and SS meet all their own passengers where they've booked flights with them Arrivals will be relatively empty - but a lot of people will be leaving. In any event issues at the airport will normally be transparent to those passengers who've booked flights with SS as they're met as the get off the flight and get straight on to a coach virtually without even touching their luggage and then straight to the boat. Discounts are nothing to do with this - but probably more to do with it being the last cruise before it crosses the Atlantic. Also it has slightly less port visits which we like but I gess most SS customers wouldn't

My post was very specifically about the BA strike and SS's non-reaction or non-planning for the fiasco that will inevitably happen if or when it goes ahead.

Radisson has adopted the same "wait and see" approach.

Perhaps I am an optomist,but I would be very surprised if BA would allow any industrial action to commence given the potential financial impact.

I think they will. It's in my view currently slightly worst than 50/50 - but I'm very aware of the history and some of the characters involved. Remember there was a strike last year at exactly the same time. 100,000 trips were effected and a direct loss of £40m Also Eddington the MD has unofficially announced he does not want to head the company by the end of the year and three other non-exec directors are also just about to announce they are "leaving".

The daft thing is that if you assume that refunds to 125 people will cost say £350k, and they could without any negotiation "insure" against it for the cost of 125 x 30 euros (the cancellation fee I and anyone will pay for buying tickets and asking for a refund from Olympic Airways) ie £2.5k. I wish I could get insurance for my businesses against a worst than 50/50 risk for less than a 1% premium. And what about the "consequential damage" to SS?

It is an appalling business risk to assume unnecessarily. I get the impression from my info that the management of the company hasn't got the right people round the table to understand, assess and respond to the risk.

By the way in case anyone on the other side of the pond (out of morbid curiosity) want to see how BA handled some of their customers when there was a storm at Heathrow last week that effected flights.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=342894

uk1

Maybe these boards are more closely linked to Silversea than I thought....

Certainly, the modus operandi appears to be the same "ignore it & it will go away"

My bet is that you will end up with Olympic (& many others will do the same at their own expense)

But one question that has occurred to my lateral mind....

Did the person you spoke to at Silversea finish the conversation with "Thank You"????

Dave

The one in Fort Lauderdale said "have a nice day" which I thought was a bit inappropriate and strange - and the one in the UK promised that someone from the flight department would call me straight away - which off course they didn't. "Thanks" wasn't mentioned.

I'm not certain that many or indeed any of the other passengers will make any contingency plans. And if they did - they would probably leave it until OA freeze the flight plan.

All coms since has been through the ta - who of course don't answer the phone or their e-mails. I've since found another ta who I believe / hope will be better for future business.

All in all it's been a grand time!

The one in Fort Lauderdale said "have a nice day" which I thought was a bit inappropriate and strange - and the one in the UK promised that someone from the flight department would call me straight away - which off course they didn't. "Thanks" wasn't mentioned.

 

On the occasions I have telephoned Silversea's U.K. office I have been transferred to the U.S.It would appear that the U.K. office has no autonomy.

The US office told me to call the UK office. Calls to the UK number are automatically transferred to the Fort Lauderdale office - but there is a direct number to the UK that avoids this - I think it was 0870 333 7050. A useful number to keep if you want to give the uk a go.

Good luck to UK1 and the other British passengers trying to connect with the Silversea cruise. I was at Heathrow last July during the wildcat strike of the BA personnel. It was a chaotic mess! I sympathize with the passengers who are anxious about their prospects. There may be comfort in the knowledge that the line for taxicabs at the Athens airport ought to be short: Presumably many more people will be departing Athens that day than will be arriving there; taxis should be readily available for fares to the city or the port.

................. thanks Host Richard for the resurrection.

I'm hoping against the odds that someone in SS will read this - they'd be daft if someone doesn't - and get going!

Many people in the UK who have booked flights through SS, might not have exec card numbers and so BA might not have their e-mail addresses. In case anyone reads these boards in that situation then BA are sending this note to customers:

Dear Mr uk1,

You may have seen reports in the media that the outcome of a GMB union ballot was announced today. Regrettably the ballot result is in favour of industrial action, however we want to continue talking to our unions and remain hopeful of a solution.

"Should you have a booking with British Airways, I would advise you not to change your travel plans at this stage, as we are hopeful of avoiding a dispute. However, work on contingency planning has begun and our priority is to minimise any disruption to our customers.

British Airways continues to operate a normal schedule and I would like to stress there is currently no industrial action set. We will continue to update you as the situation may evolve. In the meantime for the latest flight information please visit <http://ba.com>

Yours sincerely

Tiffany Hall

Head of UK&I Sales

British Airways "

Customers however need to make up their own minds about whether contingency plans are a good ideaor not. Hope the info helps.

Strikes have been announced for two unions GMB and T&G and the first date is announced (Reuters). More strikes can be announced for that weekend with a minimum of 7 days notice.

UPDATE 1-BA workers reject pay offer, strike planned

Wed 18 August, 2004 17:33

By Michael Smith

LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - British Airways Plc faces a crippling 24-hour strike later this month after members of the airline's largest union rejected the company's latest pay offer and voted to walk off the job.

The Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU) said on Wednesday that more than 8,000 of its members would strike on August 27, the start of one of Britain's busiest holiday long weekends, unless the company increased its pay offer.

Other unions representing check-in staff, baggage handlers and other ground staff are also preparing to strike, threatening to throw summer travel at Britain's airports into chaos.

"There will be ongoing consequences for BA beyond the 24 hours. All we are asking for is a realistic settlement," TGWU national secretary Brendan Gold told reporters.

BA fears a repeat of last summer's wildcat strike which forced it to scrap 500 flights, disrupted travel for 100,000 people and cost the airline 40 million pounds ($73 million).

The TGWU said 66 percent of airline check-in, sales and administration staff and 84 percent of baggage handlers, drivers and other ground staff had voted in favour of a strike.

The walkout would take place from 0330 GMT on August 27 and affect BA operations at major UK airports, including Heathrow, Gatwick, Brimingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The union rejected BA's improved pay offer made on Tuesday, offering staff a 1,000 pound ($1,831) bonus for good attendance. "We are not having a linkage to sick pay," Gold said.

The airline has offered staff an 8.5 percent wage rise over three years.

British Airways director of operations Mike Street said the TGWU strike ballot was taken before the airline made its latest pay offer and workers must be allowed to consider the new proposal.

"It would be absurd for the unions to go ahead with a strike on the basis of an old offer," Street said.

The smaller GMB union has said its members may strike on either August 27, 28, 29 or 30."

uk1,

given the apparent settlement we can both breathe a sigh of relief.

You're going as well? Let me buy you a glass of champers, grappa ..... etc. Oops - are you really on Radisson? Surely not?!

Well ..... of course were delighted that three of the unions are not going to strike .... I was listeneing to Talk Radio last night from around 4pm when they said they'd settled to around 3 am when they did - but now of course the cabin staff are grumpy because they can't have 10 weeks sick leave each year. Evidently the old ones earn pots and feel trapped and the young (cheaper ones) enjoy their job and are enthusiatic. But they always were grumpy weren't they. And as you know they all live on cheese ..... and fun sized kit kats. We've just discovered in the latest surveys that BA have the greatest number of complaints re cancelled flights - so I'm keeping the Olympic tickets in the back pocket and I'm going to zip from T1 to T2 next Monday hopefully having not handed over our cases just on the odd chance that Athens doesn't move whilst we're flying.

It should be interesting as on Friday some friends decided to join us. Bit late you'd say as it leaves in a week and it takes SS three weeks to print the tickets. They (my friends) of course don't mind leaving things to the last minute. They've paid (enjoying the friends of uk1 discount of course) - but my look at the BA web site suggests they don't have a flight - although SS haven't said this and I can't believe their allocation is open-ended on a closed flight. But I did make them book independently the two OA fully refundable flights as a contingency against everything esle I could think of that still might go belly up when we discussed it. God - I do need that drink. Who said crusing was relaxing?

So a worst case scenario is that four of us with bags of dressup gear, have one-way tickets to get to Athens on a flight that SS isn't expecting us to be on and we see the boat dissapear up the swanee. Of course they're only one way tickets so we're might have a week or two in Greece instead ..... I bet I get a Gold at something.

Anyway, I'm by nature an optimistic chap and Mrs UK1 has just chosen several cruises she fancies but which I can't afford from the 2005 brochure so I suppose I had better get religous as well as optimistic.

So how will I recognise you? Will you be the chap with the loud shirt at the pool bar waiting for me or the chap ducking below the table evry time I order a planters punch?

Only joking!

This week has taken its tole as you can see.

Since I grew up in an era when the Englishman's holiday attire consisted of trouser legs rolled upto the knees,braces over the vest,and a knotted handkerchief on top of the head,I am easily recognised!

Yes,we are sampling Radisson as part of our exercise in comparing the upmarket lines,although after our recent cruise with Seabourn I think anything else will be something of an anticlimax.

Our concern was of course our BA flight arrangements.