Don't buy Qantas tickets: union
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If you're planning on flying in the lead up to Christmas, don't fly Qantas.
That's the advice issued by the engineers' union today as it flagged plans to step up its campaign of industrial action.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) cancelled its planned four-hour work stoppages at major airports today, but not in enough time for Qantas to reinstate 40 cancelled flights.
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ALAEA federal secretary Steve Purvinas said the union planned to re-schedule the four-hour stoppage on Friday.
"I would think that by October the 28th when the Qantas AGM takes place you're likely to see full-day stoppages," Mr Purvinas told reporters in Melbourne.
"If I was a person considering travel over the period up until Christmas I'd probably be looking at airlines other than Qantas.
"If I was a passenger I wouldn't be purchasing a ticket with them at this stage."
Qantas described the comments as outrageous and damaging, as well as counter-productive.
"Telling customers not to fly with Qantas for the next three months will make the jobs of our 1600 licensed engineers less secure and will not get the union any closer to an agreement," the airline said in a statement.
Passengers at the airport blamed both parties for their failure to settle negotiations that have gone unresolved for the past 12 months.
Anton Van Breda, 46, landed at Sydney Airport on Monday from Auckland but suffered a three and a half hour delay before flying on to Adelaide.
"If there's alternatives to Qantas, one would really look at those," Mr Van Breda told AAP.
Darwin to Sydney passenger Megan Chenoweth, 27, said work stoppages were not the solution.
"You shouldn't have to take time off to make your point," Ms Chenoweth told AAP.
The union had planned four-hour work stoppages at Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane airports for Monday afternoon, at various times from 3pm (AEDT) but issued a media release at 12.30pm (AEDT) saying it had cancelled the industrial action.
Qantas scratched 40 flights on Monday and another 38 were delayed or moved forward, affecting about 11,000 passengers.
Eleven international flights were affected.
Qantas group executive Olivia Wirth said the union was well aware that cancelling the work stoppages was too little, too late.
"What this means is that they've done the disruption to the Qantas brand, they've done the disruption to the Qantas passengers, however, their workers have not been docked one cent," Ms Wirth told reporters at Sydney Airport.
In the lead-up to Monday, Qantas told engineers in a letter that under the Fair Work Act they would not be paid during work stoppages.
It also warned that anyone striking outside the hours specified by the union to Qantas could face another four hours' pay deduction.
Mr Purvinas said it would be a lengthy campaign and the union had said all along that the dispute would probably last for a year.
"Qantas have their plans on sending the airline up to Asia at the expense of thousands of Australian jobs and that's something that we find unacceptable," he said.
Strike action by a number of unions had affected about 50,000 passengers in the past six weeks, Qantas said.
On Thursday, the Transport Workers Union (TWU) called off work stoppages for baggage handlers and ground crew planned for the following afternoon at airports across the country.
Qantas said it would continue negotiations with the TWU and the pilots union this week, and urged the ALAEA to resume talks with the airline.
