Sinner
So how about BA/LH/AF ......................... the list goes on. Their pilots are more secure? Anyway I find it hard to belive that their crew has a 10 day quaurantine! And I just heard on the radio a couple of days back the UK minister making a statement that you have to be practical and cannot quarantine each and everyone coming from these places!
Tiba, if you continue to belive I harbour personal grudges, despite my assertions to the contrary, well all I can say is that the answer is no. As far as my background is concerned, a search of my previous postings in this board will give enough indications of what it is and I feel that while I am certainly not equipped to comment on ay technical issues (and you will notice I dont go out of my depth ), in this issue knowing the past dealings of the IPG (which has been well publicised in India for years) and its members, and the effect it has on had on the pasengers, I continue to stick to my stand. As told before in one of my earlier postings, India is not WEST. The passenger rights are a joke, travel insurance unheard of or unaffordable to most and peoples jobs and livelihoods are at stake (and I mean not just of AI pilots!).
If you dont beleive, here goes
Taken from
www.msn.co.in
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AI suspends18 more pilots
New Delhi, Mumbai(Apr 29):Air India has suspended 18 more pilots.
Earlier Air India had also de-recognised the Indian Pilots' Guild (IPG) with immediate effect.
Public Relations Director Jitender Bhargava confirmed the development and said, "A letter has been sent de-recognising the guild for their anti-organisation activities and working against the airline."
Stir to end soon: Verma
In an indication of a possible breakthrough in the Air India standoff, Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma has said that the Air India pilots' agitation may end soon.
The regional labour commissioner in Mumbai is holding talks with the Indian Pilots' Guild and Verma says some progress has been made towards a resolution.
However, Air India's flight schedule has been thrown in complete disarray due to the ongoing strike. While many flights have been rescheduled, some have been cancelled.
All flights out of Chennai have been cancelled till May 4, including the Chennai- Singapore-Chennai and Chennai-Mumbai flights.
Moral support
Indian Airlines pilots have expressed moral support to their agitating Air India counterparts but have denied that they will join the agitation.
The domestic pilots do undertake flights to the southeast Asian countries. But their main demand to avoid night halts in Singapore -- a SARS hot spot -- has already been accepted by their management.
Nowhere to go
But the biggest sufferers of the entire standoff have been the passengers left stranded at the various airports.
According to international norms, whenever a flight is cancelled or delayed, passengers travelling on that flight are provided with alternate arrangements and if the flight delay is overnight then the airline arranges accommodation for the passengers.
But many passengers have not been given this facility by Air India and with nowhere to go, many have been camping outside the airport from Sunday night.
"I have come from Kerala. My flight was cancelled. They asked me to leave but I have no place to go," said Varghese S, a passenger stuck at the Mumbai airport.
Stuck on the runway
Another traveller S R Ravi was planning to travel through Dubai to go to Iran for his new assignment as an electrical controller.
But his Dubai visa expired on Monday night, which means he will lose his job for which he spent over Rs 30,000.
"There is no flight. It has been cancelled thrice. My visa is expiring and if I do not go, my life is ruined," said Ravi.
With cancelled flights and no place to go, the stranded passengers offer glaring proof of just how unprepared Air India is to deal with this latest crisis.
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This is not a country where if you dont get a job at TESCO you go to Sainsburys or by some reason that doesnt click go to Safeway and then work till you get bored! A job means a lot for people in this country! And air travel is not he play toy for the rich either there are a lot of poor people ( who are not paying the £1 fares of the no frills either) who invest a lot for their travel and who give AI their bread and butter revenue.
Poor old JRD and Neville Vintcent must be turning in their graves looking at the state of affairs of the institution what they started with so much pride back in the 1930s have come to nowadays!
Sad!