Travel agents are avoiding making bookings with Aer Lingus because of the increasing likelihood of disruption and cancellations from next week.
The Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) said this afternoon that the airline should offer full refunds to anyone wishing to cancel a booking because they are concerned their flight will be cancelled due to the industrial relations difficulties at the airline.
The company has threatened to suspend from next Tuesday, any pilot not co-operating with the start-up of its new Belfast base, which is almost certain to lead serious disruption and flight cancellations.
Management is also at loggerheads with the rest of its staff over a pay-freeze it imposed because of their refusal to commit to a €20-million cost-cutting plan.
ITAA chief executive, Simon Nugent, said his members were inundated with calls from customers concerned that the entire value of their holiday may be lost if there are flight cancellations.
"Given the uncertainty, passengers should now have the option of scrapping their plans to fly with Aer Lingus, getting a full refund and using that money to buy alternative flights," Mr Nugent said.
He also warned the airline that it must give adequate notice of cancellations to allow travel agents make alternative arrangements for their customers.
"The knock-on costs of sudden flight cancellations are huge ... The potential losses to consumers from this latest dispute are immense and those costs are already clocking up," Mr Nugent said.
Already, ITAA members are preparing contingency plans and avoiding booking with Aer Lingus as concern about the level and duration of any disruption deepens.
The uncertainty is damaging Aer Lingus's credibility, Mr Nugent said and he called on both parties to find a resolution to their dispute.
Attempts to contact a company spokesperson were not successful.
But in a briefing yesterday, the company said it had so far taken 1,200 bookings for its new Belfast-Heathrow route and 13,000 advance bookings on all routes from the Northern Ireland base.