SAS strike called off. Now they are working to bring home passengers.
– It is important for us to get our customers all the way home, says Tonje Sund, press manager at SAS.
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– It has been chaotic.
This is how Dag Olsrud Tallerud (53) summed up the morning when we met him at Gardermoen on Tuesday. Together with the rest of the family, he was going to Palma in Mallorca.
– I had several alarms last night to check the flight. At 04.10, there was still a danger that the plane would be canceled, said Lina Olsrud Tallerud (49).
At 05.00 she checked again. This time it was stated on the website that theirs would go as planned.
– I woke everyone up, and then we threw ourselves in the car, she said.
At 06.00 they were on their way to Gardermoen.
Gardermoen or Sola?
The family who lives in Kristiansand, gave themselves opportunities:
If the current SAS departure had been canceled, they would have had to cancel the hotel in Mallorca.
– Therefore, we also had tickets for a Lufthansa flight that took off from Sola Airport at 19.00 tonight, Tallerud (49) said.
Had they traveled with Lufthansa, they would have arrived on Wednesday at 09.00.
– The Lufthansa journey involved a stopover in Frankfurt with a nine-hour waiting time, Tallerud (49) said.
They did not receive a refund of the Lufthansa tickets.
– We have rebooked those tickets, so we are going to Palma next summer as well, we, said Olsrud (53).
At 15.25 they took off with a SAS plane that was to take them directly to Palma in Mallorca.
From Turkey to Norway
Not everyone was as lucky as the Tallerud family. The queue at SAS ‘customer service was Hyva Poor (31). He tried to find out what his brother was going to do.
– He is in Alanya in Turkey now. On Monday, his flight to Norway was canceled, Poor said.
He further said that his brother experiences being in a frustrating situation:
– He does not know if he will order himself, or if he will let SAS do it.
Bad also told that there was no queuing system on the phone.
– He’s trying to get through down there, while I’m in line up here, he said and smiled slightly resigned.
Badly told that he drove up to Gardermoen on one’s errand to try to solve his brother’s homecoming tangle. He himself lives in Lillestrøm.
– He’s my brother. I do it for the family, he concluded.
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SAS and the pilots are the only ones about this
Did not reach through
When Aftenposten tried to get in touch with customer service, we ended up being rejected after a few minutes. SAS ended the call on its own, after asking us to wait if we needed the help of a customer service representative.
You do this if you are stranded
Tonje Sund, press manager at SAS, has the following advice for stranded passengers who are wondering what to do:
– You can arrange your own transport and apply for a refund from SAS. Contact SAS on + 46 8797 4100.
If SAS is unable to rebook you on approximately the same trip, you can do the following:
Book with another airline, take a train, bus or rent a car. We cover the difference in the cost of transport under comparable terms. Remember to cancel your ticket to get it refunded. Your alternative transport must be in the same price range as your ticket, Sund explains.
She complains about the wait and says that they are working to get even more resources, in addition to those they have staffed with.
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Hard to find alternatives
Yesterday, there were about 3,000 regular charter passengers, according to Sund. When the strike was called off early today, they quickly got planes in place to pick up passengers.
– Four planes took off from Gardermoen today. These will be filled up with passengers with travel passengers. We sent off:
- Three flights to Chania in Crete.
- One flight to the Greek island of Santorini.
She goes on to say that two of the Chania planes stop over in Oslo, before moving on to Trondheim and Tromsø, respectively.
– It is important for us to get our customers all the way home, she says.
The Santorini plane has its final stop in Oslo.
Usually within a few days
Sund is first and foremost relieved that the strike has been called off, and that the planes are in the air again.
– We think the traffic is up and running again as normal within a couple of days; I would estimate one to two days. There is a lot that falls into place already the first day, she says.
At the same time, Sund is aware that it is a puzzle to get crews and planes to the right place for departure.
– Both machines and personnel are in different places. The aircraft will also be prepared technically after standing on the ground for just over two weeks.
She concludes by saying that it is a great relief to get the passengers home.