OK guys, here is my lowly SLF perspective;-
One of my children is in mid teens and important exams and results are looming. The family decided last year to save hard and have a "once in a lifetime" holiday whilst we are all together. I have a well paid job but tried not to live beyond my means (the car on my drive is 10 years old) and not taken many overseas holidays so this is the big one, a full three weeks away, never managed it before. Departure in a few weeks and now we are dealing with the uncertainty around the strike.
Yes I have holiday insurance but I can't book any entertainment at the destination as this would not be covered (and no, it’s not Florida). I can't make other travel arrangements because I would loose all my money as I would have cancelled. This is what I would like to do to make sure we get there but obviously cannot afford to loose the money. So the alternative is to wait until the planned departure date. In the meantime, my spouse is having trouble sleeping with worry about getting on holiday. Irrational and illogical I concede, but nevertheless this is the situation I find myself in and I am extremely worried about their health with several weeks to go before departure.
So we wait for the departure day to arrive. Now suppose the strike has resulted in disprution and we cannot travel, will there be capacity elsewhere to transport us? if there is, how long will we have to wait? What if there isn't and the only option is to get our money back or travel again within three months? OK, so I have may not have lost out financially but the time has gone. I will not take my children our of school during term time and there will be no opportunity for three weeks holiday until next summer when other circumstances dictate that it will not be possible to take three weeks.
Am I selfish? Probably - if looking after your family is selfish then yes, and proud of it!
Do I think the striking pilots are selfish? Yes, they are taking away something we have looked forward to for so long and we will not have the chance to do this again. Maybe I am lucky, my employer recognized the sacrifices the workforce made to get through the lean times and has looked after and recompensed us for thissince. I don't understand the full issues behind the ballotas I believe the press only reports "populist" views. I haven't bought a paper for years and it would be really good to get and understand the full reasons for this action.
Do I expect your sympathy? No, there will be thousands of people like me and my family and I don't expect you to alter your view or behaviour because of my "sob story", but this is the reason why strikes do not work, they punish the wrong people, they punish the innocent. If I had a dispute with my employer I would not expect that to affect third parties, as you do.
Do I expect to be "slagged" off? No, I expect my views to be treated with respect. My perspective is different to everyone else’s. This is the truth as I see it, you must consider you own situation.
Wiil I book with Virgin again? I don't know but would not rule it out. My partner says definately not but I am not that naive, however Virgin won’t be our first choice (as it was for this holiday).
What would I like to happen? Ideally the strike not to go ahead. If that is not possible we need to know the dates as soon as possible so that we can make arrangements instead of being stuck “in limbo” and think the union should make these dates public immediately so that the thousands like us can plan ahead. I heard that Virgin carry 15,000 passengers a day. If this is true then this could potentially affect around 900,000 people between 4 July (the first possible strike day as I write this) and the end of the school summer holidays. We have always found the last few weeks before a holiday an important time for planning the finer detail. That too has been taken away from us, we cannot do anything until we have some details of the strike. If we are disrupted, then we want an alternative carrier to transport us but we don’t know how realistic that will be.
Am I worried? Very. I am trying to stay calm and positive for my partner but it’s not easy. Lack of information, bland promises of “unaffected service” from the Virgin website and no tangible alternatives do not give us any comfort and confidence that we will be able to go on holiday.
So there you have it, a view from a very worried SLF.
Good luck to us all!