In July 2005, cabin crew from South African Airways went on strike, giving passengers little more than a few days notice. With South Africa being one of our key destinations, Edwin Doran Sports Travel had no fewer than 13 groups due to travel to this destination over the next two weeks, the duration of the strike.

Our immediate problem was how to ensure that hundreds of students did not miss out on the tour they had been planning for many months if not longer.

Our solution was to work very closely with South African Airways and to liaise on a daily basis with every single one of our Tour Managers. We did not make promises that we could not honour but we did ensure that everybody knew exactly where they stood.

 

Of the 13 schools, one decided very quickly that as they had an age group who could all travel in 2006, they should postpone the tour for one year. This they did with a guarantee from both South African Airways and Edwin Doran Sports Travel that the price they paid in 2005 would hold good for 2006.

Whilst thousands of people were held in hotels at Heathrow Airport and flights were cancelled, day by day we managed to get every one of the remaining 12 groups to South Africa. Some travelled the day they were meant to, others the following day, with a worst case scenario that one group departed four days late.

The result was a triumph of organisation, patience and an example of the outstanding relationship we have forged with certain airlines to work with them to resolve problems. We were made aware of other groups, including school tours, who had to cancel their trips because they simply could not be accommodated either by South African Airways or on other airlines.

 

With bitter irony, one school whose outward date of travel was unaffected found, on their return to London, that the airline connecting them back to Edinburgh was not operating any flights that day!  By anticipating this problem, at 0600 hours that morning, even before the group had landed at Heathrow, we had managed to re-book them on a later flight from Gatwick, and had made arrangements for them to fill the day by hiring a coach on their behalf.  By 0700 hrs there was not a single flight to be had in to Edinburgh or Glasgow.