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2,500 SAS passengers affected by strike this weekend

Pia Marsh
May 22nd, 2015


This article is more than 9 years old.

Danes affected by flight cancellations because of Norwegian pilots’ dispute with SAS

Norwegian pilot strike causing a mess this Pentecost weekend (photo: Cargado por Denniss)

In connection with the Norwegian pilots’ strike, SAS has confirmed it will cancel five long-haul flights from Copenhagen this weekend, leaving over 2,500 passengers stranded over the Pentecost weekend.

The announcement comes in the wake of negotiations between the pilot union NSF and SAS, which went ahead on early Thursday morning.

The cancelled flights include outbound flights from Copenhagen to Shanghai, Chicago and San Francisco on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a flight from Oslo to New York.

“We regret this very much. It is close to inexcusable that our customers should be affected in this way, and we will of course do everything possible to resolve the problem so it does not affect passengers further,” Trine Kromann-Mikkelsen, the press officer at SAS, told DR.

As things stand, there are six pilots on strike. However it is understood that the number of strikers will increase throughout the weekend.

Costly cancellations
Kromann-Mikkelsen asserts that all affected passengers will be contacted by SAS as soon as possible.

“We are doing everything we can to find other departures. We will try our best to serve our passengers so that they can fly with our partners at other stages of the day.”

“We will make direct contact with customers from today, and otherwise you can visit our website,” said Kromann-Mikkelsen.

According to Norwegian news agency NTB, each cancellation costs SAS approximately 1.6 million Norwegian kroner (1.4 million Danish kroner).

 


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Moreover, 21 percent of those surveyed admitted to medicating their kids with paracetamol, such as Panodil, before sending them to school.

The FOLA parents’ organisation is shocked by the findings.

“I think it is absolutely crazy. It simply cannot be that a child goes to school sick and plays with lots of other children. Then we are faced with the fact that they will infect the whole institution,” said FOLA chair Signe Nielsen.

Pill pushers
At the Børnehuset daycare institution in Silkeborg a meeting was called where parents were implored not to bring their sick children to school.

At Børnehuset there are fears that parents prefer to pack their kids off with a pill without informing teachers.

“We occasionally have children who that they have had a pill for breakfast,” said headteacher Susanne Bødker. “You might think that it is a Panodil more than a vitamin pill, if it is a child who has just been sick, for example.”

Parents sick and tired
Parents, when confronted, often cite pressure at work as a reason for not being able to stay at home with their children.

Many declare that they simply cannot take another day off, as they are afraid of being fired.

Allan Randrup Thomsen, a professor of virology at KU, has heavily criticised the parents’ actions, describing the current situation as a “vicious circle”.

“It promotes the spread of viruses, and it adds momentum to a cycle where parents are pressured by high levels of sick-leave. If they then choose to send the children to daycare while they are still recovering, they keep the epidemic going in daycares, and this in turn puts a greater burden on the parents.”