British Airways

Book where you need to, but GET TRAVEL INSURANCE!! This is not a normal thing to have happen, but this is not going to endear BA to anyone for the future.

I'm waiting for business hours tomorrow to call my travel insurance company and ask for help. I'm leaving Friday for Egypt and then up to London on 12/27 and home on 1/1. I'm hoping that they'll reimburse me for the cost of new tickets for the 12/27 and 1/1 flights depending on what BA can get arranged for me.

I was telling my coworker today that I was buying travel insurance for this trip. We didn't for our last trip to Paris but this trip is going to be expensive enough without having to pay for expenses for a strike. I truly wish you luck. I can only imagine how frustrated you must be..

And this is a very big strike! Some might say it verges on suicidal, if the union goes ahead with it. News reports are that they will strike for 12 days, virtually closing the airline down during the Christmas-New Year period.

This may be the catastrophic 'last straw,' crippling BA for years to come. And your question demonstrates just exactly why this is so - do potential customers really want to gamble their holiday plans against the possibility that the union will engage in this dangerously foolhardy behavior in future?!

It's difficult to sympathize with cabin crew who champion this action against the company which provides their employment - at a time when so many people are without jobs. Cabin crew who reportedly earn twice the pay as cabin crew do at rival Virgin Atlantic. And at a time when their employer is struggling, under great pressure, to survive.

I certainly can't give you any advice about what you should do about your trip. They're scaring me too! And I already have BA flights from Seattle to London and Dubai purchased for January and February, London and Rome for May. I'm pretty confident my flights will go, although I may have flight changes to deal with as BA changes schedules in an effort to stop the red ink hemorrhaging from their bottom line.

One thing you may see, when the dust from this clears - BA may run some good fare sales in the aftermath, in an effort to entice nervous travellers back.

What do the BA employees not get? No passengers = no business = no job. Fortunately for the travelling public, there are options. Lufthansa has great flights from North American to Europe and there are many others. How sad, that a once prestigious airline will go under. We will never, ever book a flight with BA. The airline is too unreliable, has a nasty habit of losing luggage and has major labour/management issues. On our last trip to Europe, the staff were down right nasty. RIP BA. Sigh

I could see this sad situation happening - BA are so unpredictable lately so avoided booking our flights with them and went elsewhere, even though our trip is in July 2010.
This latest hiccup over the Christmas holidays has made me even more sure that I did the right thing!

For those with booking between now and New Year, have a look at this

http://www.britishairways.com/travel/strike-ballot/public/en_gb?openxzoneid=301&openxcampaign=cabin-crew-strike&openxbanner=strike-announcement&openxtype=click

Like many monopolies BA has always had a powerful union. The company still has a strangle hold on many routes (frequently to exBritish colonies. It had allowed BA to print money for years without even attempting the cost cutting measures being used by many other airlines.

I have no idea about the cash position of the company - just know that they have £1750 of my cash on the basis that that will take me to The Bahamas in February. If they are not around I will be taking legal action against the union leaders demanding that they personally row me across the Atlantic.

Action like this, during such a deep recession does nothing for the image of unions.

"One thing you may see, when the dust from this clears - BA may run some good fare sales in the aftermath, in an effort to entice nervous travellers back."

I hopesoo , lately there prices have been considerably higher than other airlines.

To the original poster, if yo don't have travel insurance. Buy it today. There is a 180 day pre=exsisting condition clause if you don;t book within 7 days of purchase

Avalon - absolutely true. They cynically use press - good or bad. We booked our flights on the day they announced their poor results in October. For months previous to that the fares were £750. Manchester to Nassua. We had considered using Virgin to Orlando then driving to FFL and then using a local charter company. Strangely the day the news broke of the losses the prices reduced to £500 and the saleswomen said "oh we been soooooo busy today".

I have about 80,000 BA miles but have lately been using other airlines for London . The tax on even FF tickets can be more than some part cash , part miles tickets on other airlines.

We are about to buy tickets on BA for London to Tampa and then Seattle to London. We won't be traveling until March, but this still makes me uneasy. Oh, and since the announcement of the strike, our tickets have gone up about $50 each. I think we might wait and see a few more days.

Well, for us selfish people, if they strike that should mean the other airlines will become overbooked. We can then do the "Ok, bump me for the day, but give me the 600 euros and the hotel".

Then, each day, go out to the airport, sit around for a few hours, take the bump and the cash, go back to town. I could do that for a week or so, done it in the past for a couple of days and came out great.



dave

I'm due to fly with them for my 40th birthday during the strike. I really could weep. I'm just praying mine is one of the long haul flights they say they'll keep running.

I cannot see this strike going ahead. Unions aren't stupid (well not entirely though sometimes I do wonder) and this could push BA into administration. They have absolutely no support from the general public, in fact the opposite is probably true as many people regard BA staff overpaid compared to other airlines. However IMHO they should sack Willie Walsh the Chief Executive as it has been one disaster after another since he took over. He destroyed Aer Lingus when he was there.

I really, really can't see this happening it would be suicide.

I have just heard on the news that BA are taking legal action against the Unite union to stop the strike going ahead.

BA is trying to say that the ballot had problems and is not legally valid. They're doing what they can to try to get it called off. I think the cabin crews went too far on this one and just slit their own wrists basically. There's far too much public outcry for this strike to help them, they just pissed people off and seriously hurt the reputation of BA. Even though the strike hasn't begun yet, many people have sworn off every booking tickets with them again as they don't trust the airline.

I'm in a spot where all I can think is "I love my travel agent, I love my travel agent, I love my travel agent...". She helped me pick out travel insurance when I booked my trip and has been a ton of help with BA changing flights a few months ago, and now this. I have leeway to come home a day or two late if things get/stay goofy, and she has me booked on an Egyptair flight to get from Cairo to London that leaves 30 minutes after my BA flight should leave. If BA fixes this, then I can cancel the egyptair flight for 150 egyptian pounds, which is only around $27 US, or $54 if it's within 24 hours of the flight. If they don't fix it, I have a flight that doesn't disrupt my plans and travel insurance will pick up the extra plane ticket. For under $30, I'll have a guaranteed ticket from Egypt up to London.

I'm very laid back and my plans are pretty simple. With that in mind, based on how frustrated I've been the last 24 hours, I can't even begin to imagine how most people are feeling with their flights. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if BA had a plan in place and made it public for what flights would and would not be cancelled. For most people I think it's the not knowing that is the hardest. I'm thanking my lucky starts that they got it public while I was still home and could work things out much easier than when I'm on the road and have no computer and limited phone access.

I love my travel agent, I love my travel agent, I love my travel agent! The one other time I've used a travel agent I woulnd't have considered bringing back anything. This lady is definitely going to get something fun.

This dispute has been going on for a little while now, this page from the BBC website gives a basic outline of the problems they face.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8413529.stm


"BA has reduced the number of cabin crew from 15 to 14 on all long-haul flights, and has frozen pay for two years.

Unite said that the cuts involved imposing "significant contractual changes" on cabin crew employees, resulting in extended working hours, and reduced wages for new starters."

I think this one is going for the long haul...excuse the pun....

Muck

These quotes from today's Telegraph put a slightly different spin on things, causing me to reconsider my rather harsh comments toward cabin crew, in my earlier post, above. Could it be they are also victims in this fiasco?

"The question on the ballot paper was a vague general one along the lines of 'Would you support your union...'
Many cabin crew are horrified to discover their union has committed them to a 12 day strike."

And

"I consider myself to be a hard working member of BA's Cabin Crew Community and while it's Unite's job to try and protect my terms and conditions of employment, this action seems wholly inappropriate. I urge both sides to get to work to sort this out. Most crew appreciate that we are extremely well paid for what we do and changes are required in order for the company to survive and prosper. Get a deal done and let everyone get on with Christmas. Vik"

What a mess! I'm scheduled to visit friends DFW to Paris on 12/26 and London to LAX on 1/3. I booked through orbitz, so BA is basically no help, and as of now, all the flights are confirmed and ongoing, so they can't make any changes or new accommodations other than the date. So, we all just have to sit and wait and pray the strike doesn't happen!

So, for interested parties, BA can change the date free of charge, but really nothing else at this point since flights have not been officially canceled.

just want to keep this thread alive.

Now the crews are feeling backlash and rethinking..

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/ba-staff-we-got-it-wrong-over-strike-1843067.html

A lot of crew members said before the ballot that they weren't happy with a strike over Christmas. After the ballot some expressed surprise that the strike was going ahead, saying the question on the ballot was too ambiguous. It seems that the union has decided this strike will take place regardless of what their members really think.

However, good news is that BA and Unite are talking again, so I hope for all those flying that a solution can be found.

A major problem for BA is their pension fund. BA pensioners get a fantastic deal and BA just can't afford it any more. Two of my cousins are BA pensioners and are doing very nicely thankyou from their pensions - even better than the civil servants we know with their great pensions.

The news reports last night indicated that if they do strike then baggage handlers at Heathrow will support them. This would affect not just BA passengers but other airlines that use Heathrow.

The strike was just blocked by the High Court.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8418805.stm

Thank god I'm not flying BA this year. I can just imagine the "joyful" and "cheerful" and "customer friendliness" that will be going on.

"You want your F&%*ing drink? Check out the big bowl of blue juice in the head."

" You want a pillow? Where do you think you are, Motel 6?"

" Sorry everyone, but we accidentally warmed all the meals up to 400 degrees and left them in the box for several hours, so your food is going to be a bit toasty on this trip"

On the overnight flights, they'll actually do dinner service 4 hours after taking off and do informational announcements over the PA every 3 minutes.

Yeah, those are going to be some fun flights

I am mostly glad - a strike over Christmas is a horrible thing to do to families.

I would normally have supported the unions over this - I know it is a recession and some pay is better than none, but I would want to fight to keep my contracted terms and conditions.
The earlier suggestion that employees should work one month without pay for the good of the company did strike some as harsh (I might do so if the bank would let me off a month of Mortgage, Tescos give my my groceries etc.)

What did puzzle me was the "Illegal strike ballot" - I undertand that of about 13000 ballots, 800 or so were not legitimate as these people have already taken voluntary redundancy but this still left around 12000 legitimate votes where the ratio was 9:1 in favour of industrial action. It seemed to me that the "Establishment" has used a technicality to ignore the decisions of employees.