A strike date by Aer Lingus pilots will be announced to cause "maximum anxiety" for people, a travel expert has said.
The Irish Air Line Pilots' Association (IALPA) is to ballot its members at the airline in a row over pay.
The union has rejected a Labour Court proposal of a 9.25% pay increase over two years.
Travel Extra Editor Eoghan Corry told The Pat Kenny Show he believes the union will vote to strike.
"The LRC has come back with a 9% pay increase recommendation, [the pilots union] have decided to reject that," he said.
"They're very disciplined, they tend to do what the executive wants - they will probably vote overwhelmingly for a strike.
"We are very likely to see Aer Lingus served with a date for the strike."
'Sabre-rattling'
Eoghan said Aer Lingus pilots could do severe damage to the company just by announcing a strike date.
"I do not expect the strike to go ahead because sabre-rattling is very, very useful in the airline industry when so many booking are done in advance on the internet," he said.
"You can actually do an awful lot of damage to an airline's revenue stream by announcing a date.
"Then we'll all go into talks and the talks will go on for 24, 36 or 48 hours.
"There'll be an agreement at 4am - the strike will not go ahead but the damage has been done, that's the pattern we've seen".
Aer Lingus planes at Dublin Airport, 3-1-24. Image: Leah Farrell/© RollingNews.ieEoghan said pilots unions still hold a lot of power.
"They're still incredibly strong right across Europe," he said.
"SAS was so damaged by pilots strikes it went into Chapter 11 [bankruptcy protection] and now it's been effectively taken over by Air France.
"So airlines have to be very careful dealing with their pilots."
Eoghan said Aer Lingus pilots are holding out for a better deal.
"Every other union has signed up to what Aer Lingus has proposed," he said.
"They're just basically reminding Aer Lingus [that] you can't fly those aircraft without us".
Eoghan added that there's "no doubt" pilots are well-paid but that there needs to be "a better way of resolving the problem".
