Possible United Airlines strike?

[librarygirl]

DH and I are set to fly on United Airlines this upcoming Friday (returning the following Tuesday). I've stupidly been out of the loop the last few days and only saw just now that the United Airlines pilots' leaders have called for a strike vote. I realize that if it happens it happens, but should I be concerned at this point? The merger between them and Continental did not go as smoothly as they hoped so a strike just seems like they would be further alienating and really pissing off their remaining loyal customers. I'm not sure also how this stuff works, but can they vote imminently or does this stuff take some time to establish?

Thanks ladies for any insight.

[realtorchic]

There's usually a bit of time from the time a strike vote happens and passes until (if) they actually strike. My husband is a pilot (not United) and their strike vote passed overwhelmingly in November. They still have not gone on strike nor have they reached an agreement. Initially it's a negotiation tactic, and will only use the actual authority to strike as a last resort. Chances are you'll be fine from Friday-Tuesday. However, I don't have a crystal ball to say for sure.

[EllieArroway]

Thanks for asking this. I'm flying United this weekend as well & I haven't been paying any attention so I had no idea this was happening. I just looked it up and it says that if they vote to strike they will have to wait 30 days before doing it, so it looks like we should be alright.

[mdgirl]

I hadn't heard anything about this and we leave for Japan in a couple weeks on United. Maybe wel'll luck out and get stuck there.

[librarygirl]

Thanks ladies.

MDGirl-It's not been a "big" news story by any means, probably due to the infancy of the strike stage. The only things I did read about it were mini blurbs in the WSJ and USA Today. But it got me concerned all the same.

[Deleted]

I am not an airline employee but I am unionized. It could be different but for us there is a huge difference between a strike vote and an actually strike. Just because the strike vote passes doesn't mean there will be a strike. It is just us voting and telling the union that it is okay to strike if negioations don't go well.

Every time our contract is up we have a strike vote, it always passes, but there hasn't actually been a strike in 25 years.