Travelers show little understanding for striking Transavia pilots

Transavia pilots can count on little support from the thousands of passengers affected by their strike on Monday. Social media is largely filled with complaints about the strike, and the timing thereof.

Transavia reports that 30 flights from Schiphol, Rotterdam The Hague and Eindhoven airports were canceled, and many more are delayed. An overview can be found here. The strike started at midnight and is ending at noon, but delays are expected throughout the rest of the day. According to the airline, some 7 thousand passengers are affected by this strike. Many of them will still be able to fly to their destination on Monday, director Mattijs ten Brink said, according to newspaper AD.

"Egotistic", Jordy Veldhuizen called the strike on Twitter. He is especially upset that this happened on the first day of the February holidays for the south of the Netherlands. "I understand the dissatisfaction, but you could not have chosen a worse moment. Travelers are the victims!"

"This is really shit", another affected traveler, Miranda Torsing, tweeted. According to her, it is only possible to change a Transavia flight 48 hours in advance - less notice than the pilots gave for the strike. "Pampered pilots, they should be ashamed."

"Dear pilots of Transavia; there are many professional groups who can not have a normal family life because of their work, for example in healthcare, but do not strike over the backs of their 'clients'. And now you deprive them of the well-deserved holiday fun. Please think of another way of action", another traveler tweeted.

"I've always found striking somewhat ridiculous", a traveler at Eindhoven Airport said to Omroep Brabant. "You victimize the passengers who have nothing to do with it." His flight was delayed five hours, he said.

The Transavia pilots have been working without a collective bargaining agreement for around 14 months. Pilots' union VNV demands a more stable duty roster for the pilots, a modest wage increase, and an occupational disability regulation.