Volotea staff strike: passengers find themselves stranded at Toulouse airport
Several travelers who booked a plane ticket with the airline Volotea saw their flights canceled at the last moment due to a strike notice filed by the flight crew. Some passengers spent the night, from this Sunday April 17 to this Monday, at the hotel instead of enjoying the start of their Easter holidays.
The Easter holidays did not go as planned for passengers on a Toulouse-Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) flight operated by the low-cost airline Volotea. Dozens of travelers had decided to go to this Spanish island located off the Atlantic but they ended up staying in France. Their flight number V72570 scheduled for Sunday April 17 at 7 p.m. and chartered by Volotea was canceled at check-in.
“Vacation canceled thanks to you. A big thank you”
The reason ? Two calls for a strike launched by the aircrew and the pilots of the Volotea company for the Easter weekend. These employees denounce their salaries and working conditions. Result: hundreds of passengers have had their flights canceled. Several people had to spend the night at the hotel while waiting for another flight to be scheduled. This is the case of a woman who wanted to be part of her dissatisfaction on the social network Twitter. Indeed, this passenger challenged the airline on Twitter to demand accountability from the airline. The latter replied that the flight was maintained except that a few hours later this passenger was forced to book a hotel.
@volotea hello, is the Fuerteventura Toulouse flight of April 17 maintained despite the strike notice?
— Hélène Biomedic ud83c udf3c ud83c udff5 ufe0f ud83c udf38 ud83c udf3a (@CalmettesHelene) April 16, 2022
In response, another passenger, also shipwrecked from the sky, supported his testimony by confiding that he was in the same situation. The company’s “quick” lack of response frustrated the low-cost airline’s customers.
@volotea it could be good to be able to go on strike with your staff, rather than letting a very, very bad image of a low-cost airline take hold that leaves its passengers behind.
Where are we with the Fuerteventura Toulouse flight? We are without news— Hélène Biomedic ud83c udf3c ud83c udff5 ufe0f ud83c udf38 ud83c udf3a (@CalmettesHelene) April 18, 2022
Other holidaymakers who booked with the same company remained stranded in the Canary Islands because of this strike. Other travelers who took a ticket for various destinations with Volotea also had to take their troubles patiently. This is the case of a passenger stranded in Strasbourg who had booked a flight to Toulouse. On Twitter, she explains, visibly very angry, that she was warned at 1:30 am that her plane would not take off. A replacement bus was to be put in place to bring him back to Toulouse, but according to this traveler, once at the airport, nothing had been put in place. “Holidays canceled thanks to you. A big thank you”, she gets carried away.
@volotea volume #Strasbourg #Toulouse from 17.04 6 p.m. cancelled. Warned at 1:30 in the morning. It seems replacement bus put in place. Arrived airport no bus provided by #volotea. Are you serious ? Vacation canceled thanks to you. A big thank-you @volotea 1/2
— Fr@nço!se (@francoise_67) April 18, 2022
This type of situation is highly likely to recur in a few days, which is enough to worry customers who have booked a return flight on this company. Indeed, the staff plans to renew the operation on April 23 and 24.
Contacted via social networks by us, the airline has not yet responded to our requests. On its website, an alert message indicates that a strike is underway in France but that the company “plans to operate with normality”.