英伦广角 2010-03-15 英航乘客变更出行计划

Confusion for customers trying to find out what the British Airways¹ strike means for them. With potentially seven days of disruption at the end of the month the uncertainty² is affecting bookings at this travel call center in central London.

The calls we had so far are being slightly limited expecting more obviously as people become aware of the days they are striking and British Airways bookings haven’t declined at this stage and there are other airlines that fly the routes they fly. So it may be the passenger’s decision to fly with them.

As British Airlines scrambled³ to finalize⁴ a contingency⁵ plan advice to travelers east forward, check your insurance and check the * or may not be oust⁶.

Time to assume if there are bookings on the strike days the flight is necessarily cancelled. It might not be. Having said that if you are in that position and it sounds the flight is cancelled of course you are gonna be given an opportunity by British Airways to rebook the late date or to have your money back. But if your books are on a package holiday with a British tour operator and they will get other ways to find you an alternative flight with a different airlines and it will be at their cost.

There is the chance of course that the cabinet strike may be cooled off at the last minute as it was in December. But the feeling this time is the relations have hit ten new low. Within hours of strike days being announced this sleek⁷ video message from BA’s chief executive appeared on the company’s website. Willie Wash betrayed as a man trying to sort things out. I’m very disappointed that united union yet again chose to disrupt the travel plan of all of our customers. This will be a big blow to the British Airways a big blow for every body who works at British airways and most significantly it’s going to be a significant blow to all of our very valued customers. Arguably not the language of a man ready to return to the negotiation⁸ table.

The union also recognize there is too much heat in the situation right now. The management needs to cool it and what we need is negotiation and our negotiation team led by * stands ready to talk to BA day and night to reach a negotiated just settlement.

Progress appears to reach an impact there’s no timetable for talks to resume. The union feels bullied⁹. Management believes it’s protecting the airline for workers happy to risk its future. But the biggest problem for the national carrier
is it for rarely customers simply take that business else where.

1 AIRWAYS   

航空公司

参考例句：

• The giant jets that increasingly dominate the world's airways. 越来越称雄于世界航线的巨型喷气机。
• At one point the company bought from Nippon Airways a 727 jet. 有一次公司从日本航空公司买了一架727型喷气机。

2 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

3 scrambled   

v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞

参考例句：

• Each scrambled for the football at the football ground. 足球场上你争我夺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He scrambled awkwardly to his feet. 他笨拙地爬起身来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 finalize   

v.落实，定下来

参考例句：

• Let us finalize tonight.让我们今天晚上干完
• 。At the same time,industrial designers work with engineers to finalize components and assembly.同时，工业设计师和工程师一道来完成部件和组装部分的工作。

5 contingency   

n.意外事件，可能性

参考例句：

• We should be prepared for any contingency.我们应该对任何应急情况有所准备。
• A fire in our warehouse was a contingency that we had not expected.库房的一场大火是我们始料未及的。

6 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

7 sleek   

adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢

参考例句：

• Women preferred sleek,shiny hair with little decoration.女士们更喜欢略加修饰的光滑闪亮型秀发。
• The horse's coat was sleek and glossy.这匹马全身润泽有光。

8 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

9 bullied   

adj.被欺负了v.恐吓，威逼( bully的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• My son is being bullied at school. 我儿子在学校里受欺负。
• The boy bullied the small girl into giving him all her money. 那男孩威逼那个小女孩把所有的钱都给他。 来自《简明英汉词典》