Yohann Tritz 10:28 p.m., April 18, 2022
Many French people went on vacation during the Easter weekend.
But some had a bad surprise when they returned.
A good part of the passengers of the low cost airline Volotea have experienced a real nightmare.
At issue: a strike by employees poorly managed by the Spanish company…
Volotea is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.
Rather unknown, this subsidiary is a subsidiary of Vueling.
It serves several cities in France often bound for Spain.
At the moment, the employees of this low-cost airline are on strike to denounce their working conditions.
The Spanish firm did not anticipate, leaving many travelers without a solution or in incredible situations.
No communication
In France, several flights have been delayed or canceled sometimes without information.
Monday morning, Jennifer had to leave Brest to join Nice.
She receives a text message in the night to report the cancellation of the flight.
But no solution offered: "We go quickly to the airport to find out what we were going to be offered. No communication and it's impossible to reach them. We try to talk to flight crew to help us but they don't "We don't all have the information. Finally we were offered an Air France ticket at our expense. But it was 1800 euros for two. Impossible, especially since we are not sure of being reimbursed. Nobody can help us."
After long hours of waiting, a solution was found with the airline Transavia to return… to Nantes.
Then a bus awaits them to reach Brest: arrival at 1 a.m., 15 hours after the initial arrival time.
A plane to Strasbourg arriving… in Nantes
Same thing for a Nantes – Madrid, canceled in the morning.
Later, it was a Nice-Luxembourg which took more than 24 hours to arrive at its destination after a visit to… Lyon.
For Séverin, who was returning from the Canary Islands, it's something else again: his return plane which was supposed to arrive in Strasbourg finally landed... in Nantes, nearly 800 kilometers to the west...
“We are waiting, we are waiting and the worst part is that we have had no information. We learned about it by talking to staff at the airport. Even on the boarding panel it was still marked Strasbourg. After several hours of waiting, I boarded the plane a little forcibly, because they told me that there was no solution. At the last moment I got off and took a ticket at my account the next day. But I was the only one. The rest stayed on board".
But some could not do the same.
And the road was long says Séverin: "I was told that some had found a taxi in Nantes to go to the station. Then a train for Paris. They slept at the airport then left the next day by train. to Strasbourg".
Séverin who also had to leave a few things on the way: "I live in Luxembourg. And as I came home directly, my car is still in Strasbourg. I have to pick it up".
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A problem with refunds
The funny thing about all this is that he won't even be reimbursed for his ticket.
Volotea's policy is to refund the ticket after 3 hours of delay.
But the plane, which stopped in Nantes and not in Strasbourg if it is necessary to recall, was able to catch up by arriving at a closer destination.
“So since there was no cancellation and the delay is less than 3 hours, I can't even ask for compensation.
And when we contact them we arrive on error pages”, concludes Séverin.
Employees in a precarious situation
This situation is due to a staff strike in which Maxime Vinet, crew member, takes part… With his colleagues, they denounce the derisory salaries… Faced with very low selling prices… Some flights are even offered at 9 euros…
"There are people who say to themselves how they manage to pay their employees at this price. I know. For example, I am at the minimum wage and I have never been increased since. By way of comparison, at Vueling, it's 2000 euros minimum. Worse, they have thought about lowering my salary lately".
With the covid and the crisis in Ukraine, the leaders asked for a drop in salary from certain employees such as the pilots… Who ended up stepping up to the plate because of general frustration: "They asked to again a 25% drop in salary while they steal 30% more per year. It's absurd. The leaders say that the company is in the red but they are doing well, "reports Maxime Vinet.
The member of the crew who has noticed serious breaches of the rules lately: "They do what they want when they want. Normally we should not work more than 12 hours. They ask us to do more, but it is not legal. Then during this strike they recruited staff on fixed-term contracts to be able to fill our absences. It is also prohibited. It was the labor inspectorate who made me report this information, "says the one who is at the CSE of Volotea in Bordeaux.
The airline, which thought it could withstand this strike without any problem, found itself without a solution fairly quickly.
Hence the many flight problems.
But it shouldn't stop.
Because the management has so far not responded to the protest.
The strike should therefore be renewed this Thursday.