Airline blames cabin crew for expense

Press, 9 January 1986, Page 1

Airline blames cabin crew for expense

By

LES BLOXHAM,

travel editor Four cabin attendants who refused to man Air New Zealand’s Christchurch to Los Angeles flight on Tuesday night have cost the airline an estimated $25,000 in accommodation and other expenses for stranded passengers.

The flight, which was scheduled to leave for Los Angeles (via Nandi and Honolulu) at 8.45 p.m. on Tuesday, did not leave until 8 a.m. yesterday. The 12-hour delay is expected to cause' further problems to schedules until the aircraft makes up lost time.

The airline had to provide transport, meals, and accommodation for 245 passengers stranded by the attendants’ unexpected action.

The problem arose when six of the original crew rostered for the flight reported sick on Monday afternoon. Two replace-

ments were flown from Auckland to Christchurch that evening: the other four flew down early on Tuesday morning.

Although they did not work on Monday, they were rostered to be “on call” at short notice as ’ stand-by crew.

After their Ihr 20min journey as passengers on the domestic flight on Tuesday, the four crew were provided with hotel accommodation until their scheduled reporting time for the Los Angeles service that evening. They normally would have crewed the Boeing 747 on its first two sectors — to Nandi and Honolulu, a total flight time of about 12 hours, or a duty time of about 14 hours. The cabin attendants refused to work because they claimed they were entitled to a 24-hour break after their domestic trip from Auckland.

The airline maintains the crew were entitled to only a 10-hour break.

I A hearing into the dispute began in Auckland yesterday, but was adjourned last evening without being resolved.

Air New Zealand’s public relations manager, Mr Bob Wallace, said the airline was unhappy about the inconvenience caused to pas-

sengers. Safety regulations prevented the aircraft from taking off with insufficient cabin staff, he said. About 80 of the 1000 cabin attendants employed by the airline were on sick leave yesterday. The usual number is 40 to 50.

According to an airline source, the problem has been aggravated by a virus. The airline is not expecting any further manning difficulties, provided the present situation does not deteriorate.