In Iceland, the Keflavik International Airport and other smaller airports are operated and serviced by one or more companies whose staff belongs to workers’ unions. The primary workers’ unions involved with operating the Icelandic airports recently voted in favor of holding short strikes leading up to a possible general strike to occur on Wednesday 30 April 2014.  The proposed general strike could continue until negotiations are completed.  Thus far, the short strikes have caused some delays flying into Iceland, but no cancellations.

CCP has been following the negotiations closely, due to the proximity of the general strike to this year’s EVE Fanfest. Tourism and the cargo shipments provided by airlines are of utmost importance to Iceland’s economy, so therefore it is the generally held opinion in the country that the Icelandic government will step in and enact laws to end a general strike, perhaps before it even happens.

This is what we expect as well, but, for those heading to Fanfest, we highly recommend checking with your airlines and the Keflavik airport website before departing.

Should the general strike occur, we hope it will end quickly. If the strike gets prolonged, lasting for more than 12 consecutive hours at any time during Wednesday, April 30 through Friday, May 2, 2014, and should you therefore need to cancel your plans and miss the entire event, CCP will offer to refund your Fanfest ticket in full, including Fanfest “extras” like the Charity Dinner, Sisters of EVE tour, and Pub Crawl. Alternatively you will be able to apply your 2014 ticket to Fanfest 2015, guaranteeing a spot for next year. We will announce the 2015 dates at Fanfest 2014 to better inform the decision between these two. 

All Fanfest ticket support should be handled through customer support: support@eveonline.com with “Fanfest Ticket” in the subject line.  All requests for refund or credit of your Fanfest ticket must be received by 9:00 pm GMT on or before May 15, 2014 (5:00 pm US Eastern Standard time).  All refund or credit decisions will be final.  Refunds are available only if you miss the entire event due to the general strike. Refunds for Fanfest “extras” due to delayed travel will be evaluated on a case by case basis, and are not guaranteed.    

You will need to contact your airline, hotel and/or travel insurance issuer for any other possible refunds.

In case of a general strike taking place and lasting more than 12 hours, CCP will also send a code for the Fanfest Twitch.tv HD stream to those unable to attend so they can hopefully catch what was missed in as much digital detail as possible.

If the strike lasts a full day but then is resolved, we will alter programming at Fanfest and replay key presentations for those arriving later than planned.

The Fanfest show will go on regardless of any potential strike, and it’s looking to be an amazing one. We expect some brave pilots and mercs to continue their treks to Iceland regardless of disputes or delays, and we will welcome them with open arms whenever they do arrive.

We do hope those of you who aren’t joining us in Iceland clear time to tune in either through the standard stream at www.twitch.tv/ccp or through an HD stream (with in-game goodies) available in EVE Account Management. If you haven’t checked out what’s in store for Fanfest, read this dev blog.