« 60 percent of our passengers have already reclaimed »: Brussels Airlines anticipates strike where all flights are canceled (Sint-Truiden)

The national strike organized by the socialist and Christian trade union on Monday 31 March will have a major impact at Zaventem airport. All 244 flights that were planned are canceled. The willingness to strike with the security personnel and the luggage handlingers turned out to be too great to organize flights, ”says airport spokesperson Jeffrey Franssens. There will also be an impact on the upcoming flights, but how great is not yet known.

Read too. « We are strongly committed that up to 60 percent of the trains will not run »: Kleine Spoorbond lays down work for 7 days

At Brussels Airlines they certainly saw the shower hanging. « In the meantime, we have learned that if there is a national strike in the air, the airport is often one of the victims, » ​​says spokeswoman Joëlle Neg. « We already informed our travelers for the first time last Wednesday. We already asked them then if they might want to recall their flight to an earlier or later date. We wanted to give our passengers so faster about their travel plans. A successful action, because 60 percent did that too. »

« 60 percent of our passengers already discussed the question of whether they wanted to show their flights »

Joëlle Neeb

Spokeswoman Brussels Airlines

For the other 40 percent, a solution will now also be found, says Neg. « They will also have the opportunity to re -book or to request a refund. »

Gratitude

Even at the tour operators it is now all Hens on deck. They sigh at De Blauwe Vogel in Limburg. « Once again. We are lucky that we only have four groups on Monday, » says CEO Trudo Carlier. « But those are always groups of around 30 people. We will take them to other airports such as Düsseldorf, Eindhoven or Maastricht. That is a costly operation that costs us a lot of money, but also a lot of effort. We have a driven team here, but that means putting everything on to contact everyone and offer an alternative. »

The same sound at TUI, where they also promise to leave no passenger, said spokesman Piet Demeyere. “It is especially annoying that we have no clarity yet. That strike starts the day before, as last time or is it the day itself? But anyway we think it is a honor to get everyone at their destination on the same day through other airports. It takes us a lot of trouble, but given that we are still in the low season, it is not possible to find capacity.”

What another windfall is: customer loyalty. « If you get travelers at their destination on such a strike day, they are super thinny. That is a lot harder for people who have booked a flight themselves and then you see that you as a travel organization can make a difference here. That is his customers for life and their gratitude, » says Carlier.