AdventureKenandCar

On 8/27/2022 at 6:16 AM, hallasm said:

If your SAS flight was canceled during the pilot strike and your arrival at the final destination was therefore delayed, they are entitled to compensation.

SAS customers whose flights were canceled during the pilot strike have the right to be paid substantial financial compensation for the cancellation. The company's management acknowledges this in the new accounts that SAS published yesterday.
In the accounts, the company has set aside money to pay compensation to customers.

I had my flights from Arlanda to Copenhagen/Copenhagen to ORD Chicago completely canceled.  Had to book flights 2 days later, for 4 people, from Arlanda through Istanbul to Chicago.  I have 2 claims submitted - one for the canceled flights, and another for travel expenses (new tickets, hotel, food.)  I was able to talk to a SAS representative after being on hold for an hour and a half.  He said, basically ,to be patient, and that there are thousands of claims that have to be reviewed by hand.  He said expect compensation in at least 3 months.

There is a shuttle bus, for around 10 euros round-trip, that goes from the port to a park just north of the Viru Gate. 

As I write this, I am in the airport in Istanbul. My July 10 flights were completely cancelled:

“Dear Traveler,

We are sorry to inform you that your booking (redacted) has been canceled.

Unfortunately, we are unable to find a suitable alternative for you. During the summer season there are limited seats available on the market. This means that we are not able to find a new seat within the same time frame as your current booking.

We truly apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you.

Please read more on:https://flysas.com

Would you prefer to cancel your trip and apply for a refund of your ticket, you can do this via "My bookings"https://flysas.com/managemybooking

If you have made your booking through SAS and want to change your trip to a later occasion, you can contact Customer Service after the strike has ended.

If you have made your booking through a travel agency, please contact them for further assistance.

Please inform anyone else traveling with you.Please do not travel to the airport unless you have a confirmed reservation.

Best regards,
SAS”

The only reasonable flight from Stockholm to Chicago was 2 days later through Istanbul with a 7 1/2 hour layover. 
I don’t have the mental bandwidth to figure out who and how I’m going to be compensated, but I saved EVERY receipt from this bit of unfortunateness. I’m going to pursue

1. SAS will pay for my flights, hotels, meals through the EU rules

2. Travel insurance will compensate my “up to” amount 

3. The credit card I used to make my original SAS purchase will compensate (a long shot)

4. Some combination of the above. 
 

Does anyone have further suggestions?

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

SAS strike has been temporarily postponed - negotiations continue

An agreement has been reached that the deadline will be extended by 72 hours. The strike will now start on Saturday 2 July from midnight.

It is assessed that "it is possible to reach an agreement" on a new agreement between the airline and the pilots.

This is encouraging news - great news for me, actually. We fly out on Friday, July 1.  I hope things are resolved by July 11.
Do you have a link to your source?

43 minutes ago, hallasm said:

The clock here in Scandinavia has passed midnight and from now on the SAS pilots can go on strike - there is however nothing new about the negotiations - still no news is good news.

 

Despite the deadline, one of the conciliators has just announced t the possibility that the parties will continue to negotiate after midnight.

 

No further updates from me before tomorrow (Wednesday)

Thanks for the update. We are keeping our hopes up. 

8 minutes ago, bobs1016 said:

I have a simple question, does the strike begin tue night into wed, or wed night into thu?

 

 

I was wondering the same thing - IF they strike, will the strike begin at midnight on Wednesday morning?  And if so, I'd assume it's Central European Summer Time (CET), which is 7 hours ahead of Central Daylight Time Zone (mine) in United States.  Would the strike begin at 5:00pm CDT on Tuesday?  Is THAT when I should start calling SAS?

We are scheduled to fly from ORD to ARN on July 1, boarding a Royal Caribbean cruise from Stockholm on July 3.  Return flight is ARN - CPH - ORD on July 11.

40 minutes ago, lionheart said:

Ok it’s tough as SAS is the only direct flight from Newark area 

all other flights are layovers and get late into Sweden 

debating on canceling flight and booking with another airline 

Have you checked the rates for booking another airline, especially at such late notice?  Rates are sky-high (no pun intended.)

On 6/17/2022 at 9:24 AM, hallasm said:

 

I have booked SAS myself - if a strike SAS will rebook you on alternative flights. 
How/where have you purchased your ticket? I do not know if it’s mattes but I have always bought my tickets direct with SAS and I have newer been left behind.

I have mainly flown SAS for 45 years at work and in private and I have never been worried when a strike was announced - and this is not the first SAS strike.  In all cases where there have been irregularities in operations, technical, weather or strike, SAS has rerouted me with other Star Alliance partners or SAS flights that were not covered by the strike - however some times a day late or maybe the day before. 
Technically SAS consists of three separate companies: SAS, SAS Select and SAS Direct - the latter two has not announced strike. And we do not know yet if there will be a strike - personally I believe that the current disagreement will be solved or the strike will be exposed.

I’m following the situation closely. 

Now that this situation seems to be coming into light, I have more questions (sorry to put you on the spot.)

1. How worried are you about this current strike situation?

2. What did SAS do to reroute you with other Star Alliance partners?  How were you notified?  What did you have to do?

3. What would you do in a situation like mine?

I received this email today for my flights on Friday, July 1:

Dear Traveler,
The pilots' unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden have given their notice of a potential strike with earliest possible start Wednesday June 29th.
Mediation is ongoing and we all strive to find a solution to avoid a strike.
If strike will be initiated your trip might be affected.
As a precaution we therefore offer you a rebooking option free of charge.
If you want to rebook you trip you can do this via “My bookings” https://flysas.com/managemybooking
If you have made your booking through a travel agency please contact them for further assistance.
We truly apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you.
Best regards,
SAS

I'd like to rebook on a different Star Alliance airline, but I don't know how.  Any suggestions? When they say "rebooking free of charge" is it for the same dates on a different airline?

1 hour ago, hallasm said:

…hope your flight is a few days earlier than your cruise.

Thanks. Our flight arrives in Stockholm at 7:30am the day before sailing. Our boarding time is 3:30 the day after we arrive. 

2 hours ago, hallasm said:

SAS ‘wetleased’ operations are not affected by the announced strike.

“Wetleased”?

I’m not sure this is the right place for this topic, so please forgive me in advance. 
 

From what I’m reading, SAS is planning on a strike at the end of June. I’m scheduled to fly SAS on July 1, Chicago ORD to Stockholm ARN for RC “7 Nights Northern Europe and Scandinavia.”

Return flights are July 10, Stockholm ARN to Copenhagen CPH to Chicago ORD. 
 

My questions: what happens if there is a strike?  How soon in advance should we be notified?  

On 6/9/2022 at 8:08 AM, lionheart said:

Hopefully royal has a shuttle or taxis are around 

 

way to far for a walk 

This report from a guy currently on Voyager, who was in Riga a couple days ago:

"...you can not walk it, I’m on Voyager now and was just in Latvia. They offer a free shuttle, takes about 20 mins depending on traffic and the traffic can get bad later on. Would recommend not waiting to take the very last shuttle, two people had to take a taxi because the shuttle couldn’t make it back in time for last pickup due to traffic."

(Source: Facebook, Royal Caribbean Information group)

This report from a guy currently on Voyager, who was in Riga a couple days ago:

"...you can not walk it, I’m on Voyager now and was just in Latvia. They offer a free shuttle, takes about 20 mins depending on traffic and the traffic can get bad later on. Would recommend not waiting to take the very last shuttle, two people had to take a taxi because the shuttle couldn’t make it back in time for last pickup due to traffic."

(Source: Facebook, Royal Caribbean Information group)

This report from a guy currently on Voyager, who was in Riga a couple days ago:

"...you can not walk it, I’m on Voyager now and was just in Latvia. They offer a free shuttle, takes about 20 mins depending on traffic and the traffic can get bad later on. Would recommend not waiting to take the very last shuttle, two people had to take a taxi because the shuttle couldn’t make it back in time for last pickup due to traffic."

(Source: Facebook, Royal Caribbean Information group)

Is there a possibility that this remote docking is a one-off?  Maybe there was an overbooking conflict at the central port?  After all, this is the first Voyager trip to Riga this season. Perhaps future cruises will dock closer to Old Town?

We have a car reserved for the first day in Riga to explore the surrounding area.  Thankfully we changed the booking from the Cruise/Ferry Terminal to a location in the city.  

Now I'm curious as to where the (possible) RC shuttle busses will do pick-up/drop-off.

This really bugs me.  Everything I've read said that the port is the one within walking distance of Old Town Riga.

Currently (as of June 9) Voyager is docked about 12 km, and on the other side of the river, from Riga.  I'm anticipating some current cruisers' information on how this was handled.

3 hours ago, JKHawaii said:

Voyager, being one of the, if not the largest cruise ship to visit Riga, is a tad too big to dock at the berth near the old town. 

According to Freeport of Riga Authority, the largest cruise ship that has ever visited the Freeport of Riga is the “Celebrity Silhouette”. The length - 315 meters, width - 36.9 meters, maximum draught - 8.3 meters and GT - 122 thousand tons.

"Voyager of the Seas" has length - 311.1 meters, width 47.4 meters, maximum draught - 9.1 meters and GT - 137 thousand tons.

Voyager is shorter, but wider, with more displacement.

I OBSESSED about this on Empress of the Seas in 2019.  My family found everyone (and more!) We even got the Captain's signature (Italy).  Unfortunately, some more-experienced cruisers took first place because they found more officers, but we came in second and got:

• RC string backpack
• Highlighter/carabiner
• reusable shopping bag
• RC water bottle.

We had a blast doing it!

3 minutes ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

I reserved a time for an antigen test with travel certificate for Friday at 10am at a pharmacy in Gamla Stan.

I made reservations for my family at the same Gamla Stan location for Saturday at 10:15 am.  The other place I suggested charged 395 SEK (an extra 10 SEK) for weekends.  Testmottagningen charges 295 SEK regardless of the day.  With 4 people, this is about $40 savings.

1 hour ago, DragonOfTheSeas said:

One thing I was stressing over was finding a place to get Covid tests in Stockholm. 

I found one place with 3 locations in the Stockholm area, and one of them is about 2 blocks away from the hotel we’re staying in the night before we sail!  Seems like a good option! https://www.covidtestet.com/english/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1N2TBhCOARIsAGVHQc4uVDAQ4UXh5WLRM2dPetXwbJBIKz9u6wl49NYZ6gwMR3skomixXVsaAtD6EALw_wcB#home

There is a different clinic conveniently located near the Central Train Station (where the Arlanda airport express train boards.)  This might also be a good option for anyone flying out the same day as debarkation. 
https://vaccina.se/en/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1N2TBhCOARIsAGVHQc4n_BEsiSUYGdwQWoSlwLdEFp7WAi1FCJTddsFXlRgsLE1L_xJd_AcaAnaLEALw_wcB

Also, there is a testing clinic at Arlanda Airport itself: https://www.swedavia.com/arlanda/service/testcenter-for-pcr--och-antigentester/

Public transportation in Stockholm (SL is what the system is called) is ridiculously expensive. A single ticket is valid for 75 minutes, costs 38 SEK, and can be purchased at SL's ticket machines, through their app, or directly at the turnstiles using a credit card. It's also possible to buy 24 hours, 72 hours. If you’re planning on visiting a lot of spread-out sites, then you may want to consider a 24 pass. Passes are good for buses, underground trains (tunnelbanna or T-bana), commuter trains, trams, and certain ferry lines in Greater Stockholm.

19 hours ago, kpauley said:

Does anyone have 2022 information on where Royal Caribbean docks in Riga?  Thanks.

Everything I’ve been reading lately says that RC (at least the Voyager of the Seas) docks at Riga Passenger Terminal. This is the port that’s “a short walk to Old Town.”

At least I’m hoping that’s where we’ll dock, since we have a rental car reserved there!  We’ll be there July 7-8 (overnight.)